The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – …and the Horse You Rode in On
This album has some really, really high points, and a couple of slightly sticky ones, but in general it’s a really good listen and I am enjoying it.
It falls pretty neatly into the area of 80s indie pastiche, alongside bands like My Teenage Stride and the Shout Out Louds. There’s plenty of the Smiths at times, for example, but the most obvious influence in this record seems to be Pulp, whose sound is absolutely all over it. I Pretend She’s You sounds for all the world like Babies – not a copy exactly, more like a kid who looks suspiciously like his brother.
When something is so firmly rooted in a long-established sound, when there really isn’t any musical innovation going on, then the tunes themselves have even less place to hide than usual. And this is where that first paragraph came from: some of it is great, but some is a bit middle of the road.
Around the early-middle of the album, around about the time of Hope is On Your Side and Libertyville or Somewhere, it gets badly robbed of its momentum. Those songs in particular do not excite me, and after the brilliant Stop! I started to think I was going to be disappointed. Not so, however, because in Sixteen is Too Young and Praying is a Heartache they really snap right back into the zone with a couple of sad and really lovely songs. This gives the album a strong finish, cemented by the excellent title track, and ensures you are left in a good mood when it comes to a close.
It’s a long album which could, in my opinion, afford to be trimmed a little, but in general they have some really good tunes and I’m enjoying this.
The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – Stop!
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The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir – Sixteen is Too Young
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About a month ago the band were involved in a pretty horrific-sounding accident, when their tour van had a blowout on the motorway. Fortunately, everyone lived, but they are all in shock. To sum up how serious it was, almost a month after the crash, Mary from the band described her condition like this: “I’ve still got a lot of physical and occupational therapy in my future, but I’ve progressed to walking with a cane already.”
Because the American medical system, despite its technological advancement, is administered in a style presumably inspired by an ungodly combination of the Middle Ages, the Third World and dystopian science fiction, instead of simply worrying about recovering from their injuries and their emotional distress the band have to worry about the catastrophic financial consequences of long term medical care in the States. They can’t get insurance because they are musicians, so they will have to pay for it all themselves. Consequently the chances of them descending into long-term penury and/ or grossly neglecting the care they require are pretty high, and in all honesty a fucking disgusting set of affairs. You can help out my going to this page and making a donation; please do so.
