I first heard and saw Joe ninety when I visited an all dayer down in Leeds courtesy of Bombed out records, who very kindly put on the event. Joe Ninety blew all of us away, with an amazing live set which ended the day perfectly. It was with great anticipation then, that I flicked the CD into my player (in moonwalker esque fashion). What’s particularly notable is that this record retains the energy we saw in the performance, and carries it all the way to the end with pride.
Alien quotation action abound in ‘Kickback’, yet having surprisingly little to do with the song; it doesn’t matter though, because the ace vocals of frontman Lee Wall shine through, along with some sterling backing vocals; solid sounding guitar and some definitive shouting add up to a MidCarsonJuly type sound. ‘Building’ fires up with some skillful bass playing with some similarly fast and accurate palm muting, with a relentless chorus which contrasts well with the verse. It becomes a far more mellow affair for the bridge, but like someone drifting off at the back of class during a lecture, quickly bolts upright when it realises concentration lapsing, and is back in full force till the end.
By the time ‘All ways forward’ comes around you realise Joe Ninety will retain the same style pretty much all the way through – no bad thing however, but there isn’t that much room for variety here; it is good material, no doubt about that, but unlikely in the case of this song to stick in your mind for the next day or so. ‘Climbing for Dollars’ starts promisingly with a sprightly bass interrupted intermittently with a crash of quick guitar. Consumerism is the topic of choice here, and the superb vocals carry it off well; the highlight points of the bass are also welcome to. ‘Another Tuesday Song’ sounds relatively similar to ‘Kickback’, but is varied enough to hold your attention with grasp, and I suspect it may be to do with the combination of both backing and lead vocals; they seem to fit together disturbingly well. Of course, on repeat listenings, the little hooks become ever more evident; and you’ll no doubt be consigned to nodding your head along with the music (or playing air guitar, if that’s your thing); most Joe Ninety songs seem to come to a satisfying conclusion, and this is no exception.
The band build up a style as the record progresses, and ‘Snapshot’ is all too happy to lead the way, with an ace little intro and some defiance filled words make for damn good listening; this coupled with a beat-into-submission drumbeat make for good listening. It all goes quiet for the lone guitar bridge, with drums and a bit of distortion sneaking in through the side entrance to join the lone electric crusader; soon however, it’s back up to full speed, and wouldn’t be complete without the repetition abound lyrics toward the end. ‘Things Fall Down’ is a slightly weaker track than it’s predecessor, made better by an interesting drumbeat and a somehow apologetic and reflective closing statement ‘one more time, one more day, one more explanation’ giving the song a sense of reassuring closure.
‘Better Days’ starts in melancholy fashion – what’s this? Could this be the obligatory ballad? Of course, around 35 seconds in you realise you’ve been fooled, and the band revert back to their tried and tested formula; the shame is, half of me wanted it to be the song to perhaps break the record up a bit slightly – nevertheless, the following 3 minutes continue the same formula used before. ‘No Reason’ sounds to be relatively optimistic, with slightly strained vocals which unfortunately shape into the style seen so many times earlier on the CD. End ’55 Times Nothing’ shows no intention of ending in a different style to begin with; unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have the bite of some of the earlier tracks.
The detracting point of this record is it’s continuing and unwavering similarity; however, that is not to say the songs themselves are not of high quality, because they are. I’m torn between the 3.5 star and 4 star mark; if you can deal with the fact most of it sounds the same, notch the score up half a star and buy this record immediately. For me however, short bursts are the order of the day and i’ll have to deal with 7/10 instead.
nick