Redtrack

Inside/Pretty Boy EP

·Inside

· Pretty Boy

·On The Razz

·Inside (radio edit-clean)

For my money, opening with Pretty Boy would have been a better plan than with Inside. Pretty Boy is a rocking track and the addition of one Eliza Nicholas as guest vocalist just works so well with her slightly hard-edged girlish tones set against the Essex-laden bovver boy of Redtrack frontman Billy Wright. However, I suspect that, due to the presence of a radio edit, Inside is to be the public face of this young trio. (Mini-rant: Why is it thought that blanking out the ‘uc’ leaving ‘f**k’ is going to hide the word? It sounds as obvious as the original, if not more so.) Looking at the CD in general, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts here and the end result belies their relatively tender years. The lyrics are current, intelligent and, listening to them thumping out of the headphones, you find yourself chair-dancing in the office. Pretty Boy & On The Razz are catchy and infectious and seem to be far more representative of their sound than Inside, which appears to have a far more commercial leaning than the other two. I’m not convinced that this commerciality is quite in their comfort zone though and feel a much better vibe from the middle of the CD. Check out their myspace account (myspace.com/redtracktheband) for a broader view of their sound.

I think these guys would be much better live. It’s hard to catch the raw energy jumping out of this E.P. on a recording to the same extent that it would be felt up the front at a heaving gig. And I, for one, would like to see them play here some time in the not too dim and distant.

Redtrack:

Lead vocals/guitar – Billy Wright

Bass – Phil Blake

Drums – Andrew Perry

Additional vocals on Pretty Boy – Eliza Nicholas