Glasvegas

I recently took a few of my old Phil Spector LPs (I hope he doesn’t attempt to murder me for this (allegedly)), a VHS copy of “The Commitments”, some haggis, and threw them all in an industrial meat grinder. It made a raucous of call-and-response songs, distortion, an old-timey nostalgic sound, and some Scottish accents thick enough to be characters in "Trainspotting". I called this monster Glasvegas. Of course, I didn’t create Glasvegas, it was just an extended metaphor to get your attention.

Glasvegas’ 2008 self-titled album should be a new sound to your ears. As soon as the album starts, you’re in a different place. I’m listening to it right now and I can safely say I’m in 1962, enjoying a smoke in my car in Glasgow, Scotland. Come. Join me. Have a fag and listen.

“Daddy’s Gone”, easily my favorite of the album, brings the quintessential sixties girl group sound that I love so much into a concentrated form. If I thought The Pipettes had it down perfectly, Glasvegas blows them away. The Pipettes carry too much of that early 60’s optimism that follows the girl groups around. Even the sad songs of that era were bittersweet. Somehow, someway, Glasvegas took a genre and changed it at face value. Equal parts rough and smooth, beautiful and ugly.

Immediately following “Daddy’s Gone”, “Stabbed” is macabre and slow, immediately changing the pace of the album. Upon first hearing this album, I was intensely confused. There’s another version of this song on a limited edition 2004 LP that injects “Stabbed” with distorted surf guitar and an upbeat feel. I prefer it immensely over the 2008 self-titled album version. Find it if you can, it’s worth it.

Overall, my lobes are pleased. Glavegas is a pleasant sound, a playful sound and we sincerely hope there is much more to come from this band.

EDITORS NOTE: We’d like you to keep in mind that the purpose of these reviews have nothing to do with us. It’s entirely to get you the reader to listen to music we think you’d like because, hey, we like it too. So take these reviews as suggestions rather than critiques. We do.

The Count