Amazon.co.uk Review
The Long Blondes have certainly produced one of the most stylish of indie albums with their debut,
Someone to Drive You Home. Sure, they're signed to legendary indie label Rough Trade, but at their heart, the Long Blondes are a great pop band. Even if her voice isn't the strongest, Frontwoman Kate Jackson is one rock's coolest leading ladies since Blondie's Deborah Harry, and she manages to pitch the balance just right between coquettish sex kitten and strong-willed modern woman. It's no mean feat, but just listen to her deliver the chorus "You're only nineteen for god's sake, you don't need a boyfriend," on "Once and Never Again", and you'll be convinced. Of course, much of the credit should go to lyricist Dorian Cox, who wrote all but two of the tracks here, and manages, much like Jarvis Cocker, to sound literate without becoming too pretentious. And the band themselves, who wrote the music and are responsible for keeping things light and catchy, and preventing the songs from turning into a shambolic mess. At its best,
Someone to Drive You Home is full of jangly guitars and danceable energy, like on "Lust in the Movies" and the Jackson-penned "Madame Ray". The Long Blondes have written an album for the kids, but one with plenty of depth as well. It's like Pulp have arrived for a whole new generation.
--Ted Kord
Album Description
They want to be as good as Abba. Seriously, it's not irony. As good at writing hit songs as Abba were. Yeah, they like Joy Division and all that, but not half as much as they like Dusty, disco and Del Shannon. Everybody's talking 'bout Pop Music. Everybody's talking 'bout the Long Blondes.
A quick recap, then.
The aim was to form a fantasy pop group: Nico, Nancy Sinatra, Diana Dors, Barbara Windsor. Sexy and literate, flippant and heartbreaking all at once. With this in mind, the Long Blondes went falling and laughing headlong into the glamorous world of heaving amps onto trains and applying eyeliner in National Express coach stations.
The first kindred spirit to notice the Long Blondes was hip south London independent label Angular Records. Through them, the band released a brace of exhilarating 45s; The Hitchcock-inspired Appropriation (By Any Other Name) and bona fide cult classic Giddy Stratospheres. Both have become indie dancefloor staples ever since, as has most recent release Separated By Motorways, recorded by uber-producer Paul Epworth (Futureheads, Bloc Party) at his request and released on his own Good and Evil label.
The band were leading double lives worthy of Harry Palmer for most of 2005, taking odd days off work to play in New York, Stockholm and Barcelona and signing autographs whilst their bosses weren't looking. Meanwhile, word was spreading and all three previous singles were capturing the hearts of pop music lovers all over the world. In December, the band were personally asked to support Franz Ferdinand at Alexandra Palace - A fittingly flamboyant way to end the year.
They kicked off 2006 as recipients of the NME Philip Hall Radar Award (previously won by Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs) and played to increasingly frenzied crowds as everyone from the Guardian to Vogue proclaimed the Long Blondes to be the Best Unsigned Band In The Country. The band blushed at such proclamations but, frankly, even the best unsigned bands have to be at the office by nine. Surely Marlene Dietrich never had to work overtime? Even in these less than productive conditions, the Long Blondes spurned the advances of many inappropriate suitors until the right one came along. And it came along alright. In April - almost three years to the day of their incarnation - the Long Blondes signed to the legendary Rough Trade records. The label that brought the world the Smiths, the Strokes and the Libertines had done it again!
The band have recorded their debut album 'Someone To Drive You Home' with Steve Mackey (Pulp, MIA), set for release 6th November, proceeded by their next single, Once And Never Again (with B-sides produced by Erol Alkan). To promote the release The Long Blondes will be performing their first headline UK tour (with support from The 1990s), calling at various venues nationwide throughout October.
So that's them; Sardonic style icon and protagonist-in-chief Kate Jackson, guitarist Dorian Cox, bassist Reenie Hollis, keyboardist Emma Chaplin and drummer Screech. The next chapter of Sheffield's idiosyncratic musical heritage: The suburban disco fantasies of the Human League, the opulent ridiculousness of ABC, the seedy glamour of Pulp Truly a Carry On cast's worth of characters all with loves, hates and passions just like yours. It's a Blonde, Blonde, Blonde, Blonde world. Now just lie back and enjoy it.
~ The Long Blondes
~ MGMT
~ Vampire Weekend
~ New Young Pony Club
~ Fleet Foxes
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