“Eight minute efforts by the name of Daddy’s in the Doledrums where “A mother walks the streets/with a baby in her arms” can’t be taken any more seriously than Eurovision winners Lordi’s belief in the oncoming Arockolypse. ”
“Eight minute efforts by the name of Daddy’s in the Doledrums where “A mother walks the streets/with a baby in her arms” can’t be taken any more seriously than Eurovision winners Lordi’s belief in the oncoming Arockolypse. “
The Secret Machines – Silver Drops
A confession: I have no idea what ‘prog rock’ constitutes. There’s been hints of course; clips of stage shows featuring jousting knights on ‘I love the 70s’, mention of overlong solos for the sheer hell of the things and a general critical consensus that it was A Bad Mistake Which Must Not Be Mentioned. Ah, one of those dreadful, self indulgent genres that was supposedly killed off by punk? Now I understand; prog albums are too long, overly pretentious and, quite frankly, rather dull. Right?
Into this void of knowledge rides Secret Machines with their third LP 10 Silver Drops. Quite possibly about to be hailed as the leading lights in “The New Prog Revolution” by certain sectors of the music press it seems that these boys have a lot to live up to. Carrying a whole genre on your shoulders really can’t be that easy. They certainly score highly on the length aspect – only one out of eight tracks eases in under the five minute mark and it seems clear that ‘epic’ was the studio buzzword. Yet the opening salvo of three brilliant songs does its best to dispel all notions that this is a band in need of a good producer to make some cuts. Alone, Jealous & Stoned is as fitting a lament to the loneliness of a long distance tourer as you’re likely to find. The track’s melancholy build-up eventually falls back to reveal a wonderful piece of synth-heavy goodness which, rather cleverly, chucks all preconceptions out of the window.
The hit rate continues through to stand out track Lightning Blue Eyes. Here the combination of ‘xx’s drums and a realisation that swirling mounds of guitars and lots of keys (a la J. Cope’s Safesurfer) is one of the most powerful combinations that pop music has bestowed upon us creates something rather special. At which point, were this an EP, you would happily switch off the stereo, buy copies for each of your nearest & dearest and shout from the rooftops about the impending arrival of one of the most fresh and exciting bands of the year.
Indeed, the exercise leaves such an emotional exuberance that it’s a shame they ruin it by padding out the rest of the album with the biggest load of conceited, cliche fulfilling rubbish issued this year. Eight minute efforts by the name of Daddy’s in the Doledrums where “A mother walks the streets/with a baby in her arms” can’t be taken any more seriously than Eurovision winners Lordi’s belief in the oncoming Arockolypse. It would appear that the pop sensibilities of the openers have given way to good, old fashioned, mind numbingly boring indulgent noodling. Whether the track is supposed to sound threatening is one matter (it doesn’t – the ‘atmospheric’ sounds are just plain tiring) but make-or-break albums really shouldn’t be culled from jamming sessions. Things don’t get much better – the band seem form a consensus that noise is better than nothing and the result is an unholy mess of overdubs. By the time we’ve trundled through to 1000 Seconds – presumably in contravention of the Trade Descriptions Act since any fool’s iTunes will tell you it’s closer to 400 – things have became a little strained. There’s clearly a good song amongst it all but the attempts to turn it into a stadium sized ballad harm any attempts to garner true listening pleasure. Each instrument gets its turn to show off in turn and the result simply sounds like the last U2 album with added synths.
10 Silver Drops is a collection that hits moment of abject brilliance but manages to ruin them with some of the most gratuitous showing off this side of Classic Rock magazine. There’s obviously a great songwriting team at heart but it’s equally clear that you can’t keep the indulgence away long enough to let it last. Worth buying but don’t be surprised if you find the inconsistency too much. Still, I think it’s about time I learnt a bit more about this whole prog business…
Words: James Waterson.