October 18, 1998

Fourfold Remedy

As unsexy as political bands generally are, at least they have a point....

5 / 10 AS UNSEXY AS POLITICAL BANDS generally are, at least they have a point. Certain members of Velocette used to be in token socialists and perennial underachievers Comet Gain but, shrewdly, they've swapped the Gain's matt grey moanings for a shiny new manifesto with a pure pop vision that's just so... well, so conservative, really.

Quite why people with vast record collections and a quaint concept of what pop music once was still attempt to make records that sound a bit like a bad Ronettes B-side from 1963 is something of a mystery. It's great that Velocette possess enough self-belief and ability to shimmy like a discount Saint Etienne on 'Get Yourself Together', but does the world truly need reminding of how limp Lush were?

Seemingly on a mission to evoke a time when London was swinging and art-hags Jack were the height of Bohemian counter-culture, Velocette's sepia-stained sweetness is occasionally bearable. There's the 'wild' Hammond stylings of 'Someone's Waiting' and 'Submarine''s dainty psychedelia - anything, please, to detract from Sarah Bleach's consistently flat cooing.

Suddenly the thought of selling Socialist Worker outside the students' union becomes positively life-affirming.

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