Offmessage

So. More reviews of albums that you wouldn’t expect to listen to, rather than of books. Parenthood and self employment has killed my reading habit, while as previously noted self employment has driven my music consumption through the roof. I’ve owned Searching for the Young Soul Rebels for a few years now, but it’s only recently that I’ve realised exactly how good the album is.

Punk-soul crossover doesn’t sound like a musical style that will work, but… Starting with a radio being tuned away from “Smoke on The Water” and then moving into the shouted intro, horns and hammond organ that sum up the album we go from the blisteringly angry opener (”Burn It Down”) through a scorching cover of a Northern Soul classic (”Seven Days is Too Long”) to delightful catchy pop (”Geno”). With a whole host of amazingly original numbers in between this album is a superb blend of an anorak love of Northern Soul and a real anger only possible in the first years of Thatcher’s government.

Twisted, fucked up, weirdly dressed, and misfit it may be, but it’s also uplifting, poetic, angry and brassy. Over the last few weeks I’ve come to love this album. This is soul, ladies and gentleman. And for �7 it’s a bargain.