Leeds is a city with a strong music hall tradition. I can give away my age by recalling how the BBC's light entertainment mainstay 'The Good Old Days' from the Leeds City Varieties was one of my earliest TV memories. This ran from 1953-1983 and for each show the immaculately dressed host Leonard Sachs would introduce the acts with an elaborate bantering style rich with alliterative phrases and exotic sounding vocabulary.
What lay at the heart of these 'good nights out' was a mockery of pretentiousness and this same spirit pervades Leeds based Silverlode's openly theatrical third album.
Essentially what the album amounts to is a progressive rock concept on a tight budget with a stress on minimal frills. If you buy the album you'll get a Skiffle-Prog-Pop pin badge to publicise the self proclaimed genre the band adhere to.
The tone here is English to the core - more early Genesis than late Floyd with tongues firmly in cheek.
The album's ten core songs are framed with an intro track ('Theatre') an interval piece (Tight Green Dress) and a coda (Song For A City). For good measure we are also introduced with personalities with Dickensian names - Judas Squint and Mr Eustace Grimm.
|
All this is promising in principle and I wanted to like it but found the lack of clear 'plot' in the album as a whole frustrating.
The 'tales' are described as sharing a "core theme of directionless youth, albeit through a warped and distorted looking glass" which hardly helps shed much light on the concept.
On record the simple arrangements make the songs sound a little flat and samey. Only 'Birds', with its effective use of violin and cello, really stands out.
Perhaps in a live setting with erudite introductions and props the 'moral' would be more evident.
Album info : 13 tracks 41.02 minutes
Bnad website: www.SilverlodeOnline.co.uk
|
