Rollerskate Skinny: "Horsedrawn Wishes"
Warner, 9362-45943-2 (58 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1201
With their debut album Shoulder Voices, Dublin band Rollerskate Skinny pushed back the envelope of posting a sonic challenge to the setting a new standard for experimental Irish rock. Horsedrawn Wishes has so many layers of listenability that you want to peel them away again and again. It's the nearest thing to an avant garde Pet Sounds, the kind of album The Boo Radleys probably wished they could make if only they'd had the bottle. The songs are a strange contradiction: instantly accessible yet inscrutably enigmatic, headswimmingly frantic yet browsoothingly serene. Songs like Swing Boat Yawning, Swab The Temples and Man Under Glass are dense, evocative swirls of light and shade, with the sounds and words spread evenly and imaginatively over a wide, undulating landscape. There are echoes of Joy Division, Pere Uhu and even Pale Saints in songs like 1000 Couples, Speed To My Side and All Mornings Break, but overall there's a sense of discovery, as though the five members of Rollerskate Skinny had unearthed a new kind of alchemy.
Joyrider:"Be Special"
Paradox, 540 485-2 (38 mins)
Dial a track, code. 1311
I thank we re seeing a bit of a Northern Irish movement emerge in 1996 (Nit pop, anymore), and Joyrider sound like they re in a hurry to join the race to catch up with the likes of Ash and Therapy? Despite the obvious pun in the title, and the apparent Stiff Little Fingers influences, Be Special doesn't have much to say about "the Troubles" being more concerned with just revving it up and getting on with life. Fabulae, Strikes Sparks Everywhere and Nobody Home are crashing, snarling bursts of punked up pop, while I Cursed You, I Don't Give In and Imagine Dead Language take the foot off the accelerator to cruise along the more thoughtful side roads. The spit n sweat which fuels the album dries up pretty quickly, but it's an exuberant enough ride while it lasts.
Maria McKee: "Life Is Sweet"
Geffen, GED 24819 (51 mins)
Dial a track code: 1421
In which Ms McKee grabs her guitar and goes all grungy, letting rip with Mick Ronson style licks while her partner Bruce Brody lays on the string arrangements. It's quite a departure from McKee's sparse, sensuous debut or her rootsy, down to earth You Gotta Sin To Get Saved but it's not a million miles removed from that fondly remembered group she once fronted, Lone Justice. Life is Sweet sees McKee transplanting her yearning, aching voice into an "edgy environment", however, in many places the vocals are smothered by strangled guitars and, urgent instrumentation and everything seems to be pulling itself apart instead of coming together. I guess that's just the kind at effect she was looking for.
Cowboy Junkies: "200 More Miles - Live Performances 1985-1994"
BMG, 74321 29643 2 (111 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1531
Fear not, gentle reader: Margo Timmins and her wild west addicts haven't gone all heavy, and this collection of live performances from their 10 year career show the group at their subtle, subdued best. The recordings range from an early performance in front of family and friends to a triumphant appearance at London's Royal Albert Hall, and they include such CJ classics as Blue Moon Revisited, Sun Comes Up, It's Tuesday Morning, Misguided Angel and Sweet Jane.
The Saw Doctors: "Same Oul' Town" Shamtown Records, 004 CD (48 mins) Dial a track code: 1641
Same oul' songs, same oul' small town observations on life, same oul stage-culchie carry on: The Saw Doctors have been stickin with the same oul formula since they started, and sure why would they want to change? Their growing legion of British fans likes them just the way they are, and Same Oul Town delivers exactly what's expected of them: a middle of the road collection of ballads, come all ye's and a bit of oul' rock'n'roll thrown in for the crack. Sure it won't be long before we see their 50 Golden Greats being advertised on the oul' teatime TV.
