campag velocet - its beyond our control
who ever saw this coming ? i certainly didn't.
infamous lost band of late 90's makes first real classic album of 2004.
the signs were not easy to spot after all. in 1998, the bands first time around things were so very different. before anyone could make their minds up the nme put this motley crew onto their front cover featuring fencing gear and a dominatrix style glare. i never read the article but i knew this lot scared me. the lp was subsequently released and continued with the passion for the dark side but, unfortunately, failed to ignite the masses. probably due to its lack of decent songs. they were there, just hidden deep amongst the excess. and so into the wilderness the band drifted - never to seen or heard from again.
until now that is.
from the outset things are very much the same, the bands lineup is solid, the eye catching designer republic cover, the sneering rant/sung vocals (see pil's lydon for easy reference pointer), the dirty upfront guitars, dubbed up bass lines, mad disjointed lyrics. but where things differ are that the songs are worthy of constant rotation. from the chilly post-punk ambience opening of 'instinct-tension' with its sharp stabbing guitar lines to the sheer pop bliss of 'motown clic' (a number one hit single in my world - but that means little !), this album hardly puts a foot wrong.
when pete voss lets his guard down he has put some wonderfully honest lyrics amongst his clockwork orange-esque banter - 'i've been around, knocked down, now i'm back again' - heralding the bands real intent to get things right this time round. in fact scanning the lyrics its apparent that pete and the boys have some old scores to settle. i suspect the fact that campag became the medias whipping boy must have hit hard.
so, watch out. they've come for your blood.
its not all nastiness though, 2 of the 12 tracks are laid back instrumental affairs, with 'sunset strip eclipse' being exactly as you'd expect from something called that .. yes, it's a chilled out ibeefa type of thing and doesn't really go anywhere, and, the 3.5 minute lite jazz prog rock of 'obsessed with gloom' also benefits from the fast forward button. especially as we are then dropped into the monster 7 and a half minutes of 'aint no funki tangerine' excellence, with its throbbing synth line, pumped up dance rock beat and pete on vocal stun mode. simply an adrenalin pumping track, full of rage, weirdness, and is downright genius way to close the album.
if this album was a bands first lp then it would indeed be hailed as a modern punk funk classic, as it is, i fear that the bands history will taint them. don't fall for the negative vibes.
the lads have refined these songs in the intervening years, to create a tight set of hard hitting grooves and craft wonderfully messed up set of songs. some of which funk you up, others fuck you up.
result.