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From: H.P. Sauce
Date: 19 Apr 2010
Time: 09:16:00 -0500
The 14 Track debut from bisonics is one hell of a mixed bag bursting with ideas both good and bad. Most of the songs sound like they were recorded in 1979. (That wasn't meant as a dig by the way - many of my most treasured albums came out that year!) Black Box Recorder put a smile on my face because I know how brilliant it would be to pogo to. It's instantly catchy and loveable. Other gems on this L.P will remind you of the classic pop The Cure used to delight us with or sound like out takes from classic Squueze albums such as East Side Story. To me, The Last Post sounds rather like a lost demo by The Stranglers. The song is about a man toying with the idea of sending an old flame a postcard. Instead of saying, "I wish you were here" he's singing, "I wish you were dead". Someone must have hurt these fellas real bad as there are many tales of woe here. What Happened is a silly song about two sad men complainning about being let down by the other. It's unintentionaly comic and somehow reminds me of the kind of parodies of pop songs that used to feature on Not The Nine O'Clock News - but that's not to say I didn't enjoy listening to it. For me, the highlights were... W.O.E. which is quite frankly, an astonishing mixture of Joy Division, Graham Parker and The Fall. Starecase which made me want to dig out my copy of Alex Chilton's Sister Lovers L.P. And, Tender - another great track that brings to mind Elvis Costello circa Trust. . I'm not saying that all the songs on this album are all good - they're not. The Next Door Neighbours, This Is and Someone Else's Wife all made me cringe and they all out stayed their welcome. But it must be said, Play For Today has a lot going for it. I think it's worth buying just for Edward Ward's splendid drawings on the cover. And, there really is some gold in some of these tunes. Bisonics have got a lot of impressive material. Simon Beacon, Douglas Murphy and Paul Hamilton have done well. Respect is due. (7/10) Find out more about the band here: www.bisonics.net