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Since frontman Graham Burgess found love,
happiness and the ability to
procreate en masse in Kent, Reading have been deprived of Three
Litre's once regular gigs and one of it's classiest and most
venerable live acts. Never ones to threaten musical frontiers,
the band always delivered in their live shows and Graham's
rapier wit and uncanny knack of combining rock and roll's "fuck
you!" attitude with a charm and a delivery that make most
frontmen seem like air hostesses without any of the depth or
sincerity always combined with their savvy pop sensibilities to
make you think that you were at a real gig with real bands
(despite often seeing them play alongside some real shite). They
have these songs available on the Arkade
www.arkade.com website so you can catch but a wee glimpse of
what you are missing.
For those of you who won't be heading to the
site to check them out for yourself, here's what I reckon:
Downhill - has a deceptively "metal" opening, with very
gainy guitars, but the track doesn't take long to settle into a
big, bouncy pop anthem revolving around British skier Chemmy
Alcott. Graham's vocals are too nice on this recording. On stage
he has real venom and a bitterness that can only come from years
of being labelled as a novelty pub-rock band and seeing your
earnest, heart-felt song writing derided as a cheap laugh. It's
a high-tempo track full of the Litre's drinking establishment
credentials, fans of Half Man Half Biscuit, etc. will
immediately relate to the humour and shouty, jumpy, jangly
chords.
Mr Fogg's Electro Lounge remix is more of a Baby Bird-esque
take on Graham's lyric and seems more appropriate to the tune,
especially with the guitars being replaced by lullaby-like
keyboards and a smooth integration of the "Ski Sunday" theme
tune (which seems cut-and-pasted into the original tune). A toe-tapper,
by jove. Probably better than the original, but then Mr Fogg has
talent to burn. The band probably asked him to re-jig their
tune, so they brought it on themselves.
Sweden - the 'Litre in sentimental mood, showcasing their
pop sensibilities and ear for a melody. My problem is that I
liked Three Litre best when they were quintessentially British
and acerbic with it, but this track is just Graham whining while
stringing out Swedish puns ("I've got the yellows and blues").
As a long-standing admirer of the band's work, I have to
complain. It's well written, recorded, performed, yadda, yadda,
but when you hold this one up to classics like "G.O.D.D.E.S.S."
and "Girl From The Industry", well... it's only track 3 I
suppose.
Review by Alex Kaupa aka AK
Copyright Josaka
29 March 2006
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