When - The Lobster Boys mp3 album

It could be said that WHEN are riding on the shoulders of giants, with this album taking a strong influence from "Sgt. Pepper". And who would choose to make an album which moves so close to THE BEATLES' style circa that album? Surely a recipe for foolish disaster? Maybe, but WHEN have more than their fair share of talent, and here they portray a possible album the Fab Four may have created at the beginning of a new millennium, had they been locked in a bubble of time. Okay, so the songwriting skills of LENNON and McCARTNEY is probably lacking, but WHEN still manage to create some memorable tunes and sing-along lyrics - "Flower Jam" is wonderful. powerfully blasting out it's wildcat sitar motif in a way which THE STONES just couldn't manage for "Paint It Black". It's a track deserving full volume to carry the listener along on it's tsunami sound set to a plodding beat. It's momentarily reprised for the intro to "Ruin Yourself" - a slow pacing piece with distorted voice which might almost be a K.M.F.D.M. track given a playful Hippy backing. "Sunshine Superhead" is incredibly glib and lightweight, as bright as a splash of surf in yer face. "Instant Flute" has the vocalist coming across more like GREEN GARTSIDE circa SCRITTI POLITTI's brief commercial success - super-real and verbally acrobatic. And the ultimate credited piece "Too Much Hello Goodbye Again" will work it's retro beauty into your brain - okay, so it's an old style, but I for one think it's all kinds of wonderful! Aside from the tracks which could be plucked out as possible singles, there are some great fillers and instrumentals - "The Greatest Sorrow On Earth" with it's smooth Ethnic Jazz sound which manages to create an Eastern feeling while occasionally nodding towards more Western sounds (a curious Country and Western sound seeps in here and there). And "Puff Pipe" which could be part of the same track - a change of direction but not mood. The CD actually has 12 tracks to it's 11 track credit - the final piece is 16 minutes and 15 seconds long, exploring Minimalism which is anything but minimal, and manages to darken the mood while remaining essentially playful - like BONZO DOG doing the incidental music for a ROMERO zombie flick. Tribal, rhythmic, very slightly Satanic - CURRENT 93 eat your black heart out! While this is too good to be seen as an album filler, it deserved to appear elsewhere, and if it had left "The Lobster Boys" a little on the short side, then so what? This album wins on quality over quantity any day. It's an independent album which captures that essential missing ingredient 'X' which many mainstream groups seem ill equipt to capture - that warm feeling you sometimes get when the opening notes of a particular favourite kicks into play - that 'Ah' moment when you know good things are around the corner. I wonder to myself - is this tongue in cheek? Are they sincere in what they do? The bottom line is - it doesn't matter! What matters is the music - the album as product, and it's a crying shame that it will probably languish in obscurity rather than be paraded through the streets of the world held high on the shoulders of all who love music. Originally reviewed for Metamorphic Journeyman.