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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Best known for a connection with hometown pals Arctic Monkeys, Jon ‘Reverend’ McClure and his Makers finally offer tricky second album A French Kiss In The Chaos. Since 2007’s The State of Things McClure has threatened retirement, offered out the entire political class and given away an album (by his other band Mongrel) with a national newspaper. Given such distractions the follow-up is unsurprisingly somewhat mixed. Highlights include "Silence Is Talking", a proper indie disco stomper, with a pounding bassline and a nagging horn hook lifted from War’s Latin-funk favourite "Low Rider" and the excellently titled "No Soap In A Dirty War" which borrows a few lines from the Only Ones’ lost classic "Miles From Nowhere" and turns a break-up song into something unexpectedly gleeful. "Hidden Persuaders" is little more than a clumsy lesson that consumerism isn’t necessarily good for you (Jon McClure picked up the nickname ‘Reverend’ for his preachiness, after all). But "Professor Pickles" is straightforward psychedelia, all wheezy organ and slamming snare, "Long Long Time" is a sparse piano-led ballad, nearer to Richard Hawley than Alex Turner while BNP-berating "Manifesto/People Shapers" starts harsh and ends sweet. The closing "Hard Time For Dreamers" gives the game away--McClure voices his fears of war, a Tory government and rising sea levels like, realising that when the Smiths sang about death by double decker bus, they really feared a nuclear holocaust. A French Kiss In The Chaos is inconsistent and sometimes frustrating, but its quirky charm is irrepressible.--Steve Jelbert
Review
Jon McClure first came to prominence as the flatmate and occasional writing partner of Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner. As the 'Reverend' in Reverend & The Makers McClure then had his own success with 2007 debut album, The State Of Things, which reached the top five. This follow-up is more ambitious than that inaugural effort but suffers from the same variance in quality.
For every smart couplet or cleverly constructed song structure there is a crass or naive lyrical sentiment.
Hidden Persuaders is filled with unintentionally hilarious conspiracy theory paranoia but says nothing new. A man as politically astute as the Reverend surely read all about the perils of capitalism in Naomi Klein's No Logo?
Long Long Time is better to begin with. All minor chord piano longing, it's a Sheffield sibling of Primal Scream's Cry Myself Blind until the moment that it's spoiled by the line, ''Please don't contact me, the river owns the battery from my phone''.
Single Silence Is Talking is far better than everything else on the album. The refrain from War's funk classic Low Rider is given a post-Stone Roses psychedelic boost to thrilling effect, while epic, echoing guitars, a White Album-era Beatles drone and baggy Happy Mondays beats are a great accompaniment.
Another unnecessary phone reference threatens to scupper No Soap In A Dirty War. Despite this aberration the track's sentiments are familiar to anybody with ambition: ''I don't wanna die in the same hole I was born/ I don't wanna get married in the same church as you all''. Musically it's affectionate, grand and affecting, like a South Yorkshire November Rain without the pomposity.
A French Kiss In The Chaos is an accomplished indie album, produced to a high standard. If only its maker didn't resort to hackneyed generalisations about the media having ''license to print lies as facts'' and ridiculous alliteration like ''Professor Pickles prescribing me Prozac pills''. --Lou Thomas
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific,
By
This review is from: A French Kiss In The Chaos (Audio CD)
Every song on this album is a winner. Great melodies,wonderful tunes and excellent lyrics. It's better than their first CD. An absolute gem!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As good as the last one,
By
This review is from: A French Kiss In The Chaos (Audio CD)
The last album was alot to live up to and on first listening I thought Mr McClure had flunked it. But it has grown on me BIG TIME. There isn't a track that doesn't hit the spot - play it loud in your car and wait in anticipation for the third album.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I'm A Believer,
By
This review is from: A French Kiss In The Chaos (Audio CD)
Having just listened to and reviewed A-Ha's simply
dreadful new album 'Foot Of The Mountain' it is both a relief and a real pleasure to have had the opportunity to hear Reverend and The Makers splendid new collection 'A French Kiss In The Chaos'. No frills, no fuss, high octane melodic rock of the highest calibre. A little bit old-fashioned in the best possible way. In Jon McClure the band have a talented and charismatic front man. The force behind the fire. The bees knees. A big, bad, boss man. What a great little band they are. Tight as a vice. 'No Wood Just Trees' is alone worth the price of the album. The rhythm section and brass arrangement is electric. The raw conviction of McClure's performance on 'Long Long Time', at just two and a half minutes, is the album's highpoint. A simple and simply beautiful song, beautifully sung. 'No Soap (In A Dirty War)', too, is a classy piece of writing. Strong melody, rousing chorus and an ecstatic, driving conclusion. (Arcade Fire at their elemental best came to mind). 'Manifesto / People Shapers' is a rapturous, echo-laden, incantation. Politically charged voodoo for a spiritually challenged age. 'Hard Time For Dreamers' brings the album to a dark conclusion. The song wears its heart on its sleeve. The sincerity is self-evident. I'm A Believer. Very Highly Recommended.
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