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DROPPING DAYLIGHT - BRACE YOURSELF (2006)

Here's a perfectly odd and disturbing cover featuring crash test dummy midwifery. I have no idea what the seat belt is being used for and I'm not sure there is really a need for latex gloves? Happily this is exactly the type of cover befitting of this project.

Onto the music. The album title Brace Yourself seems to be offering some quite explosive but in reality Dropping Daylight simply crank out some fairly decent rock tracks. There are no surprises, it is really just a standard MTV rock sound. There is a welcome change of pace and tone with Answering Our Prayers but overall everything sounds good but slightly unremarkable.

Best Track: Apologies, Blame Me, Answering Our Prayers.

Verdict: Fail - just a little too safe.

HOT ROD CIRCUIT - SORRY ABOUT TOMORROW (2001)

I must admit that I made a mistake when selecting this CD by Hot Rod Circuit for purchase. I thought the cover was a photo of someone sitting on the toilet but it turns out that they're sitting on the lip of a bath. Nevermind, it still fits within my "People Sitting" category. I also selected the album for some of the track titles, namely Radiation Suit and The Night They Blew Up The Moon.

Now for the music. The album kicks off with The Pharmacist, a reasonable cocktail of guitar power-pop, not quite Green Day, it actually reminded me of Busted or McFly. I have to admit that I don't really know how Busted or McFly sound as I've happily erased anything I might have accidentally heard by them from any memory, so I might be wrong. I suppose the solution is to say that it reminded me of McBusted. Move on.

Nature's Mercy carries on in very much the same vein, then so does Radiation Suit. Everything is fairly well done, I can't say it glows but it isn't bad enough to make your hair fall out. That's really how the rest of the album continues, an intermittently shouty male vocal with some guitars powering their way each song, not much variety and nothing to get excited about. Consumed By Laziness is a good example, I kind of liked it but it is just not very original.

The production is fine and it is all slickly done but to me it lacks personality and comes across like power-pop-by-numbers, strange for an act on the B-Unique label.

Top Tracks:  Now Or Never, Consumed By Laziness

Verdict: Fail - not atomic.
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A taster from YouTube

NOISY PIG - DISASTER #1 (2009)

I cannot remember why I bought this CD, the cover is odd but not exactly something I would consider essential for this project. It is possible I was enticed by the tracks titles Magic Pee, Silly Pepper, About A Gold Fish, Wrong Time Capsule and Weird Boobs?

Musically this is something I might have briefly enjoyed about 20 years ago, the entire album is a collection of cute electro tracks, mainly very simple rhythms with a few bonkers arcade game sounds and "character" vocals. Actually, it is possibly the type of album I might have made 20 years ago on a dull Sunday afternoon - and trust me, that's not a great accolade.

At times mildly amusing, at time highly annoying, it sounds like music made by a non-musician, stuck in a telephone box, using toy instruments. For a while I hated it but I get the odd moment where I find it wonderfully refreshing. It made me want to play my old Harry Hosono records again.

Best Tracks: Silly Pepper, Magic Pee (Hawnay Troof Rmx), Weird Boobs.

Verdict: Fail - twenty years too late.

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A taster from YouTube

LOWFINGER - WHO'S GOT THE BISCUITS? (2000)

Here's yet another CD cover featuring a woman wading in water. I can only presume all the artists find it difficult to illustrate legs? Imagine the conversation "Great design but her legs don't quite look right. I know, show her standing in water and that will solve it!". It doesn't matter, I like the concept on this one as the woman appears to be part-robot with some serious laser-vision, oh, and a cowboy hat? I'll overlook any concerns I have about rust issues, not to mention the health and safety nightmare of allowing circuitry near water. An album called Who's Got The Biscuits? and track titles such as Go Go Me A Big Pop, Idiot Radar helped with my purchase decision, not sure about the obsession with fingers though (Superfinger, Airfinger, Pulling With The Fingers, Beach Finger). 

I have to admit something here. I'm not sure where I mis-educated myself but whilst browsing this album I'm sure I read somewhere that it was a heavy rock album. So, I had a lot of trepidation when I first put the CD on, I mean, you have to take a little extra breath before stepping into that zone, a bit like when visiting a relative. But to my surprise Superfinger started the album with some zany samples, beats and a groove, nothing like the hideous heavy rock I was expecting. There's even male and female crossover vocals and synths! 

Schoolroom Headrush cranks up the groove and throws in some great power guitar, retaining strong pop credentials despite some dubious lyrics like "my fingers want to get muddy around your flower bed" and "I want to do the scuba and dip in your fishpond". The mind boggles!

Idiot Racer bounces along nicely "metal rusted by chicken blood" (told ya!) but it is Airfinger which really lights up the dials, a great little rock out and there's even some vocoder in there to please me. The remainder of the album bubbles along nicely mixing beats with big choruses, always accompanied with wonderfully absurd words. Hooks aplenty! The airy Beachfinger is worth a special mention for the line "she always seemed so suitably international, she made me love my wooden leg"

Oh, as a final observation, there's a hidden "heavy rock" track at the beginning of the album, it almost seems to have been put there to mock me. Good job!

Favourite Tracks: Superfinger, Schoolroom Headrush, Airfinger, Go Go Me A Big Pop.

Verdict: Pass - nice! (that's a biscuit joke, in case you're a bit slow)

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Here are a few tasters from YouTube

TASTE OF JOY - TRIGGER FABLES (1995)

I promised that I would keep my finger on the pulse of CD cover concepts and this is the third album I have found with "breast cupping". Please understand that I'm not actively seeking them, they just seem to stand out when I'm browsing through endless covers. As you can see this one is slightly overshadowed by a large, pregnant belly, painted with what looks like a depiction of the Earth. I'm assuming this is some sort of Mother Earth symbolism? However, I ignored any misgivings about a possible hippy ambush and made the purchase.

Taste Of Joy are pleasant enough, a fairly straightforward guitar band featuring a female vocalist, their sound sits somewhere between the Bangles, Voice Of The Beehive and the Go-Go's but maybe with a more folky twang. Most tracks are well-crafted and enjoyable without being massively memorable, the type of album that you have on in the background and soon passes by before you've really noticed.

Titles such as Gun Pointed, Hands Are Tied, Loaded and Went To Jail seemed to suggest a lot of weaponry might be involved and possibly even some trailer park revenge crime but that's probably just my warped impression of the American dream. In fact, Hands Are Tied had a pleasant Belly (no pun intended) feel about it, that nice drawling vocal sliding between the guitars. So Long gives a welcome short, stripped-back pause before the slow-burn rocking continues. There's a slight feel of the Beatles on some tracks, an aspect I'm not really keen on.

Top Tracks: Hands Are Tied, Blood Divine.

Verdict: Fail - the wrong type of belly.

STARS - SET YOURSELF ON FIRE (2005)

This is second CD cover I have reviewed which has featured an image of "breast cupping" -  for want of a better description. A strange phenomenon in design which will feature again in my next review, just to prove that I'm paying attention to my own plan to find CD covers with a similar concept.

To me, this cover image looked reasonably militant with a hint of pink revolution and with the Set Yourself On Fire title I could only predict an energetic album full of modern-day punk anger. Track titles such as Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, The Big Fight and Soft Revolution provide further evidence for my theory and it was a good enough assumption to make my purchase.

I was completely wrong. Your Ex-Lover Is Dead opens with the vocal sample "When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire" and with that you expect it to be followed by an explosion of drums and guitars......and noise. But no, it is followed by a gentle orchestral intro building into quite a delicate and thoughtful indie-guitar track, all nicely backed with strings and a knowing sway. As soon as the second track Set Yourself On Fire flickers through the speakers it confirms that have I been duped, this isn't going to be the gritty, raw sound of violent rebellion, it is the dainty sound of art school poets with violins, cellos and glockenspiels.

There's a real charm about the male/female vocals that interchange on the majority of tracks and the lyrics give a glimpse of other people's lives, intimate yet never fully revealed. Tracks such as Celebration Guns and He Lied About Death also provide a worldly commentary about the bigger picture, quietly cutting and eloquent rather than aggressive table-thumping.

The album does have moments of fuzz and fire but it is the stories of relationships and fumblings such as The First Five Times and One More Night which really provide the most fun. Any frenetic moments are well-controlled and the downbeat sections are lovingly crafted and overall there's a terrific blend of indie rock, atmospheric electronics and classy orchestration.

This is not the type of music I usually listen to but I really enjoyed it.

Top Tracks: Your Ex-Lover Is Dead, Ageless Beauty, What I'm Trying To Say, One More Night,

Verdict: Pass - a soft revolution is still a revolution.

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Here are a few tasters from YouTube