the vacation - band from world war zero
this los angeles gang of three having released a debut single on fierce panda, now comes the full lengther on major backed echo records with big name production from tony hoffer (air, supergrass, beck etc) on board. though it's not immediately obvious where his expertise has come in useful, as this is basic down to earth recording with little studio involvement. sounding like a bunch of live recordings strapped down onto silver disc incorporating riffs ripped from classics from the who, television, and a ton of other 1977-era radio friendly punkoids. from the cover artwork, drawn by the bands singer, and the album track listing ('white noise', destitute prostitutes', 'i'm no good', 'hollywood forever', 'liquid lunch', 'trash') it's fairly obvious from the outset what this album is going to do.
in other words : short-n-sweet, fast-n-furious, loud-n-proud attitude swaggering garage rock-n-roll.
there is an element of john lydons sharp visceral energy in ben tegel's thin vocals, along with touches of howard devoto, which are matched excellently by his brother steve's fuzzed up nasty rock noise guitars, the brash bass lines that keep the action tight pump the songs long. obviously, life has been tough for this lot, as over the course of recording these 11 lifestyle themed tracks (that fill just over 30 minutes), the band have somehow made their way through 3, count'em, drummers. the ghost of spinal tap lives on. that's some serious partying that has gone down.
guess you don't celebrate the glories of liquid excess for no reason, luckily the songs are so damn catchy especially the grand finale of 'trash' with its mick jagger sideways stance handclap and chant-a-thon breakdown, that the listener is swept along in a flurry of youthful innocence and gloriously unhealthy appeal.
ok, this album is not going to change the world, it doesn't move on the boundaries of recorded noise. it does, however, provide a several damn fine songs with some excellent classic sing along chorus's and, subsequently, carries a massive entertainment factor.