They don't make albums like this anymore - seriously. I first heard 3CR on a dodgy car stereo (it did mangle several tune tapes up), and to be honest they became a band I listened to day and night for about a year. 'Pure', the bands debut album, is the perfect blend of a marriage between rock and a tinge of punk. From the outset, 'Pure' delivers adrenalin and emotion in buckets to you and doesn't stop till track 14 finally subsides.
The opening track shares it's name with the album, and if ever there was a lesson of what to begin an album on, this is it. 'Pure' begins with some feedback and a lone baseline, before crashing into the verse and some powerful lyrics 'When the one thing in your life comes crashing, what are you gonna do?' and about 30 seconds in, you realise 3CR know how to structure their songs oh so well. The end result is one of the best songs i've ever had the pleasure to hear.
Shortly after comes 'This is my Hollywood', with comes complete with a far darker tone and some excellent backing vocals toward the end to support Vukovic's vocals. 'Nerve gas' takes on a similar style and will undoubtedly grow on you, but is shortly eclipsed by the seminal 'Nuclear Holiday' - 'I need a holiday, to blow you all away, lose all the shifts in my parade...' a powerhouse of a song if ever there was one, 'Nuclear Holiday' doesn't have the raw anger of pure but still will give you that get-up-and-go feeling.
'Copper Girl' and 'Sixty Mile Smile' both demonstrate 3CR's talent for a variety of melodies and stop-start tunes - although extended listening is probably needed to get the most of them. Followed by these is 'Sunny in England' a superb song which climaxes with shouts and backing shouts which show the band's emotion fully. If a song ever makes you feel as good as this does, let me know.
'Alright ma' is classic three colours red as they make the transition from loud to quiet seamlessly, and 'mental blocks' is the token all punk song thrown into the mix to spice things up before the solemn but beautifully crafted 'fit boy and faint girl', which may as well be the ballad out of the bunch.
'Halfway up the downs' is pure bottled hate, angry guitars one second, and a foreboding low vocal the next, creating a noise that would be the perfect soundtrack to one of your nightmares (whatever they may be). 'Hateslick' continues along the hate layed path, yet 'love's cradle' is infinitely cool to listen to, as it seems to drop everything it's holding as it starts afresh for the chorus, and is a powerful plea from the boys.
You knew this album would go out with a bang, and it certainly doesn't disappoint in this department, with the furious 'aniseed'. 3 Colours Red have actually split up now, you won't be able to buy the album on amazon - but hunt in your local record shop/hmv/whatever and you'll be glad you did.
nick
