Always a big fish in their native Dublin rockpool, SOMETHING HAPPENS! never truly got to hunt with the sharks in rock's deep-water fishing grounds.
Which is totally mystifying when you consider there's a record of such magnitude as "Stuck Together With God's Glue" lurking in their back catalogue.
In truth, the HAPPENS canon is littered with great gear if you've the time or inclination to delve into their back catalogue. The band made the unorthodox move of ptting out live mini-lp "I Know Ray Harman" to introduce themslves and then followed with debut LP proper "Been There Seen That Done That" in 1988 which should have really established them on the map with songs like "Beach", "Incoming" and "Forget Georgia," but it's rather flat production ensured the boys plodded when they shoulda been sprinting for the tape.
No such problems with its' successor though. Even a good (wow!) 12 years later, "Stuck Together With God's Glue" finds the Dublin quartet commanding respect in piranha shoal proportions and effecting a gloroiusly beefy resurrection job on the worm-eaten corpse of trad guitar pop.
Recorded in L.A with producer Ed Stasium (of RAMONES, REPLACEMENTS and JULIAN COPE fame) at the desk, for once the choice of the City of Angels was a good move as the sunshine and a bigger budget only accentuated SOMEHING HAPPENS! natural brashness, thrusting a vivid swaggering sound straight into yer face.
Indeed, from that great title down, "Stuck Together With God's Glue" contains a baker's dozen of great reasons why you should find a space on your shelf for this CD well into the next decade. An obvious contender for the great "lost 45s" jukebox is the cracking "Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello (Petrol)", but its' blissful, leather-clad punch introduces a fervent rush of blistering, snake-hipped proteges in its' wake, with the insistent, summery "Good Time Coming" and "What Now?"s classy pop nous also scoring highly in the memorable chorus stakes.
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SOMETHING HAPPENS! put in an admirable sonic performance throughout. Eamonn Ryan and the vastly under-rated Alan Byrne are both fluid and reliable ( a neater trick than you'd imagine with rhythm sections), but guitarist Ray Harman especially came into his own; his plectrum meltdown rifling the best of Bob Mould and Johnny Marr before whipping up a whirlwind all its' own to complement Tom Dunne's warm, sinuous vocals. They combine beautifully on the piano-led ballad "Parachute" and "I Had A Feeling", both of which are evergreen examples of how to incorporate stadium size tunes into your set without embarrassing anybody.
Happily, even "..God's Glue"s more ambitious moments are infinitely satisfying. The top marks probably going to "Brand New God" - all jazzy swagger and stoned bassline- "The Patience Business" with its' Beatloid melody and "Penny Lane" horn blast and the deceptively ethereal rocker "I Feel Good."
Strangely, "Stuck Together With God's Glue" didn't make SOMETHING HAPPENS! the arena-filling superstars they were beginning to look like. There were still great moments to come: the 1992 follow-up "Bedlam A Go-Go" and singles "Daisyhead" and "CC Incidentally" singles to name but a few. However, if you want to make lasting acquaintance with a band at the peak of their powers get tangled up in blue with "Stuck Together With God's Glue."
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