Getting People Over the Beatles: A Series Examining the Greats of British (and UK) Pop Music (part 23)

essay by Jamie
Brit Pop is an era of British music that produced as many great records as any previous ‘Boom period’ (the three largest and most influential are the original Beat/Mod era often called British Invasion in the States, the original Punk and Post-Punk Wave of the late 1970′s-early 1980′s, and finally the Brit-Pop movement of the 1990′s), and yet it’s still nearly 20 years on largely misunderstood or neglected by most American listeners. Sure Oasis is readily known, so is Blur to a certain degree, but there’s at least another 10 quality acts readily available with whole careers there, with at least 5 of those groups being of the absolute highest quality. One’s easily able to sit alongside Britain’s other titans such as the Who, the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks, The Jam, The Smiths, etc without an astute listener batting an eye for a second (I blush leaving off other groups for the simple reason of not wanting to get into naming twenty acts here, but don’t think The Clash, Joy Division, Wire, Gang of Four at al or 20 others don’t deserve this status either).

But defining Brit Pop or speaking on it’s importance isn’t my bone to pick today, there will be entire groupings for that down the road, and we’re still looking to highlight groups for just the simple geographical connection: Liverpool. Liverpool lays claim to 4 Brit-Pop acts of note (and I’m not counting the Beatles who certainly are echoed in much of this stuff), two that predated but highly influenced the movement (last week’s The La’s, and either Mick Head group The Pale Fountains or Shack), and two that existed within its peak. First, the psychedelic Boo Radleys, and finally today’s selection Cast (with their 1995 debut All Change being the album discussed today).

It’s no wonder that Cast became Liverpool Brit-Pop kings as their forming was from the aftermath of The La’s and Shack’s breakups (The La’s offered vocal and guitarist John Power, Shack Peter Wilkenson of bass and backing vocals). They had immediate praise from none other then genre king Noel Gallagher of Oasis when he described seeing the group live as being like having a “religious experience”. It was another piece of praise that perked my 16 year old ears up thousands of miles away all those ears ago, “The Who of the 90′s”. I was, and am, a devout member of the ‘Pete Townshend for Prime Minister’ cult, so this obviously had the desired effect— I bought All Change as soon as I could, sight unseen.

Listening to the album to write this piece I feel about the album as I did back then (has it been 15 years already?): mainly it sure as hell ain’t The ‘Oo. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I’d think comparing a Brit-Pop band to the Who they’re mainly speaking about the Who’s pre-Tommy career, and matching that energy is difficult for any band to achieve and nearly 30 years later a tad redundant I’d think. Plus, I never saw Cast live which was supposed to have been a hell of a thing (as the Gallagher quote speaks briefly to), and even the studio Who had trouble being the live Who during that era. What is contained in All Change however is a great Pop band with muscle that seemingly moves from one beautiful melody to another with each passing line.

‘Alright’ has the ringing power chord opening that could recall the Who, and the vocal reading akin to Small Faces era Steve Marriott with quite a nasal infection (this era, probably due to Oasis, quite loved that vocal style). It was the albums second single, so therefor the bands second as well, and probably was the moment they truly cemented their place. ‘Sandstorm’ was the albums next, and highest charting single. It skips along in a fractured manner mixing psychedelia with sugary hooks (meaning all high and no hang over) making those unfamiliar swear it’s Oasis’ great lost single. ‘Mankind’ bridges these tones beautifully into ‘Tell It Like It Is’, the great production experiment on the record; twisting guitar fade in’s and atmospheric vocals blend into one of the great anthem chorus of the 1990′s. ‘Fine Time’ is uplifting and assertive with perhaps the albums catchiest melody (what a hook!), while ‘Back of My Mind’ is almost Southern swamp boogie rock transplanted in rainy Britain (can ‘Mississippi Queen’ by Mountain become ‘Merseyside Queen’? If so, it’s here). ‘Reflections’ and ‘History’ are mixed, but mostly successful attempts for a band to update the Nuggets garage stuff they so clearly love from the 60′s into their contemporary environment (‘History’ specifically features some fun fazed out guitar, almost electric bag pipes).

But the real revelation this past week while rediscovering this band was three songs in particular, ‘Four Walls’, ‘Walkaway’, and the closer ‘Two of A Kind’. As previously expressed the album shifts between sneering but energetic pop with bright guitars and catchy hooks to even more energetic, more sneering pop with brighter guitars and catchier hooks so it was quite a surprise that the three more low-key numbers (if they did ballads these would be them) would leave me so in awe. ‘Four Walls’ is seemingly about isolation and feeling trapped in a bar after a disastrous night of drinking, but when one thinks it could also be about life itself, “Can I ever get out of here?” quickly stiffens ones spine. ‘Walkaway’ could be read as about the same thing; just asking, as nicely as possible to experience life in all is supposed brilliance, then just ‘walk(ing) away’. Who needs these experiences countless times they wonder (it was the track that after all these years moved me more then any other, it’s absolutely beautiful). ‘Two Of A Kind’ is the elegant operatic ballad, a Brit-Pop ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, or ‘November Rain’. Brit-Pop was always unfairly condemned in the States for not being as emotionally deep as America’s alternative scene at the time (mostly dominated by Grunge and Industrial Rock) but here that claim is seen as it is: baseless, embarrassing short sighted, or just plain false.

Give this record 1.5 listens and you’ll count it as a masterpiece too, hope you enjoy (as usual youtube has most, if not all of the tunes). Happy listening, see you in two weeks on May 12th.

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