Ham SandwicH

“Carry the Meek”

• St. Christopher
• Keepsake
• Click…click…BOOM!!!
• Never Talk
• Words
• Broken Glass
• Sad Songs
• Sleep
• Ashes
• Thru the Grass

Having reviewed their live show only a couple of weeks ago, I feel like I’m eighteen again, sitting the Matric. (ask your parents) and thinking to myself “Haven’t I just done this exam?” Well, in the second instalment of the continuing saga, I am pleased to say that they come off a lot better on vinyl (again, ask your parents) than they did in Cyprus Avenue, at least vocally. I have to admit though, and I know I am probably going to be in a very small minority here, but I don’t know where I am with Ham SandwicH. While I am reluctant to box things off or label extravagantly, they are neither here nor there for me. I love what they do harmonically and melodically. The double octave work between Ms Farrell & Mr McNamee is wonderful – powerful, attention-grabbing, distinctive. And the counter-melodies used are clever, relatively intricate and unusual for the modern band. But I find, once you get over the vocals, Ham SandwicH as a whole is washing over me without having much impact. Like I said, I’m probably not making myself popular here.

Carry the Meek is an excellent exponent of what it is to be Ham SandwicH and will doubtless delight fans everywhere. Click…click…BOOM!!! has a catching and clever hook. Their sound is driving, insistent, pounding and the lyrics are clever, intelligent. I don’t doubt that this will sell well and be a treasured part of many collections for some time to come…just not part of this reviewer’s. Mind you, I do really like Sad Songs…

Ham SandwicH:

Niamh Farrell

Podge McNamee

Johnny Moore

Ollie Murphy

Darcy

The Coronas

“Heroes or Ghosts”

• Grace Don’t Wait
• Make a Change
• San Diego Song
• Heroes or Ghosts
• The Talk
• The Great Divide
• I Choose Love
• Decision Time
• Filtho
• Real World
• The Joker
• Temporary Release

The Coronas manage to have their own sound in the densely populated world of the guitar-driven rock/pop band, which is in a large part due to their vocals, which is an odd blend of a stong voice that sobs the sentiment at you. Their sound overall puts me in mind of Live, but without the menace. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows you to listen to it far more often. On first listening, the CD sounds like a lovely bunch of very happy-go-lucky tracks but, on loser inspection, the upbeat feel is masking an undercurrent of melancholy in the lyrics. Tracks like The Talk or the title track Heroes or Ghosts are simply beautiful. If I have any quibble with this at all, it is that the songs all appear to be in and around the same note range, even in the same key, which lends a same-sameness, which travels from one track to the next. I don’t know if this is due to the vocal range of the lead singer or whether it is simply an act of chance but changing this could lead to a more interesting work next time around. But this could be just a step on a long journey. In short, I love their sound and love this album.

The boys are lined up for gigs all over the country over the next couple of months so, if you can catch them, do. They’re even better live.

The Coronas:

Danny O’Reilly

Graham Knox

Conor Egan

Dave McPhillips

Primrose

“What you want to believe”

1. stranger come around

2. so alive

3. the best in you

4. pretty girl

5. insane

6. ambitious girl

7. rude

8. take on me

9. sad song

10. say’s enough

On first listen, it sounds American, on second listen, it sounds like nothing in particular, on third, it starts to grow and by the fourth, there are tracks on repeat. (Interestingly, the main, indeed only, image in the sleeve notes is from the U.S.A. moon landing.) This is the new album from Denmark-based, self-proclaimed Irish band, Primrose, “What you want to believe”. Having said that, however, there are only a few tracks that I find worth repeating. This would make a superb four-track EP, using just tracks #1,3,8 & 10. Stranger Come Around is an epic opener, with almost-OTT strings & vocals swirling, The Best In You & Take On Me are songs for a summer road-trip, with Say’s Enough a sparsely-arranged soundtrack closer. Frankly, I grew to immediately love this collection but almost as quickly found myself irked by most of it. The definitions of a primrose path (included inside the sleeve notes) using terms like ‘irresponsible hedonism’ and ‘tempting but hazardous’ didn’t help. (It put me in mind of someone who tells everyone that he’s ‘like, Crazy, man!’ in the hope that he will be thought more interesting than he actually is.) On a more serious note, lyrically, the work could be stronger and a number of the songs morphed into background noise within a few bars. Frontman Adrian Sullivan’s voice is wonderfully distinctive though and it adds a certain something to even the more wandering tracks (e.g. Pretty Girl). It is also no surprise that one of the more interesting tracks (#3) had input from Brother Bob, who has worked wth Madonna, Britney Spears and the Pet Shop Boys. However, at the end of all this, I am put in mind of the old saying “A good start is half the work” so I’m looking forward to their next offering.

One question though: what the heck does “It say’s enough for me” supposed to mean? Why the apostrophe?

Primrose:

Adrian Sullivan

Ulrck Aagaard

Kasper Olsen

Kasper Foss

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