The Reegs: Return Of The Seamonkeys
(Blue Apple Music)
Restricted Blue Vinyl (500 copies) | CD | T-Shirt Bundle
Delivery from 2 September accessible right here
Misplaced however not forgotten group The Reegs reissue their debut album from 1991 as a restricted run and it nonetheless sparkles as we speak with the magic of that early nineties sound which Reg Smithies, Dave Fielding and Gary Lavery cooked up amongst the psych soaked indie of these occasions. Wayne AF Carey introduces and Stephen Canavan critiques…
Any early Chameleons followers might be acquainted with The Reegs after the cut up between Burgess, Lever, Smithies and Fielding again in my hometown Middleton, the latter forming The Solar & The Moon and the previous as The Reegs. Fairly a daily customer to The Dusty (Midd pub) in my youthful years I obtained to know Dave fairly properly by means of his accomplice and caught The Reegs dwell above The Assheton Arms at a packed out gig with individuals like David Gedge in attendance. There was nonetheless that acquainted duo guitar sound ringing by means of the psychedelic swirl of noise and it actually caught my consideration on the time. This album captures a set of their early songs and our good man Stephen Canavan takes over in his personal phrases…
Stephen Canavan:
It’s the sound that entrances you…
Because it has earlier than and can once more…
The blissful twin guitar telepathy of Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies, honed into intuitive perfection and utter synchronicity over 4 massively influential and critically acclaimed albums with Middleton legends The Chameleons.
Reborn afresh with The Reegs.
And what a sound it’s…
A summer time rain of shimmering, cascading guitars, impassioned vocals and hypnotic instrumentals, a heady rush of chiming, swirling, atmospheric melody.
The sound of Manchester dreaming…
The sound of The Reegs…
Within the stultifying inertia that adopted within the wake of band assured Tony Fletcher’s tragic passing in 1987, it appeared clear that the Chameleons protracted ‘hiatus’, was now extra staggering dying march, than a lot wanted artistic sabbatical, a lingering dying, that nobody had both the inclination or will, to mercy kill.
By 1988, The Chameleons lead singer Mark Burgess and Drummer John Lever had already abruptly left and shaped the band The Solar and the Moon, and Chameleons guitarists and childhood buddies, Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies discovered themselves compelled to work collectively once more, forming the band that might grow to be the Reegs and releasing a flurry of singles between 1988 and 1991.
Launched in June 1991, with all of the tracks recorded at Suite 16 in Rochdale, the Reegs debut album, Return of the Sea Monkeys is in lots of senses not a standard album, being primarily a set of the 9 songs that the Reegs wrote and launched as singles or on compilation albums, throughout that three-year interval; that it really works so cohesively and so thrillingly nonetheless, is an affidavit to the energy, not solely of the musicianship, however to the facility and inherent brilliance of the songs themselves. Now remastered and launched for the primary time on vinyl in 34 years by Blue Apple Music, it shimmers even brighter nonetheless, being a joyful reminder of previous glories, while demanding from a contemporary viewers, pressing reappraisal, and contemporary reverence.
The Reegs first single, a canopy of the Kinks See My Buddies, Ray Davies’s beguiling, droning,
mysterious, Sitar soaked traditional, was recorded principally for the Kinks ‘Shangri La’ Tribute album in April 1989, and kicks off Return of the Sea Monkeys in spectacular model. A lonely howl of guitar and ominous synths main into its dynamic opening, the track now reborn afresh, being birthed now as a thunderous, mesmeric Mancunian wall of sound, a mantra of roaring guitars howling like banshees in a hurricane, some wailing harmonica by Stewart Carr, and the relentless, driving percussion, whereas the reluctantly volunteered, however suitably enigmatic vocal efficiency by Reg Smithies, solely provides to the sense of swirling drama.
The uncooked, muscular, sinuous, driving instrumental Is There a Mom in Legislation within the Membership options some evocative banjo taking part in from Dave Fielding and strident acoustic guitar work from Reg, and sees the Reegs bringing the Memphis blues to Middleton, and pulses with life and vitality.
The wonderful This Savage Backyard is a swirling storm of chiming, kinetic, mesmeric guitars, pulsing bass, and evocative synths, Reg singing in blissful disbelief, like a person uncovered to a non secular surprise he can barely comprehend, not to mention describe, and after this elegant tempest of jangling, insistent, guitars lastly subsides, the fantastic acoustic coda that ends the track, sounding like one thing Lennon dreamed into being while dozing in some solar slaked Indian backyard way back.
Regardless of Reg’s sterling vocal work on See My Buddies and This Savage Backyard, The Reegs have been quickly boosted by the presence and burgeoning song-writing expertise of nice pal and fellow Middletonian, singer Gary Lavery, formally of Mellodramean and Partisan Gray, who took on the position of lead singer, and the band would profit enormously from each his vocal presence and songwriting contributions.
The prowling, spikey guitar, and strutting, growling pressing rhythms of Refrain of the Misplaced sees Gary warning us that ‘The satan lurks inside a lonely head,’ and is adopted by the epic Pond Life, sea shanty guitars, set towards a backdrop of icy synths, snaking intricately and punctiliously by means of the beguilingly vibrant melody and impassioned vocal, like a sidewinder throughout moonlit desert sands.
Begin to See has the howl of prime Mondays in its writhing intro, and has the kinetic, thrilling vitality of a traditional Spy Film theme tune. Reg’s guitar laying down a repetitive insistent melody over the relentless beat, as David’s personal guitar roars and writhes out and in of the cloud of synths, attacking the track, like a lone fighter an unarmed enemy escort.
The austere, glacial, however emotional craving These Days follows, Reg’s guitars uneven as waves on a Baltic Sea, as brittle as outdated bones in winter, Dave’s soul-stirring synths creating an eerie, icy backdrop, whereas Gary’s impassioned vocal on the epic refrain, is deeply shifting, seemingly calling out for a redemption that all the time appears past his attain, as plaintive and haunting and as a ghost’s trapped in a sheet of glass.
The anthemic Flip it up options one other hovering refrain and highly effective vocal by Gary, and the dual wonders of Fielding and Smithies guitar duelling like dandy cavaliers, whereas the album is dropped at an in depth on a suitably atmospheric observe by the Band’s elegant, tremulous, however closely dance infused instrumental cowl of the Velvet Underground ‘All Tomorrows Events’, which was recorded for the American bands 1991 tribute album ‘Heaven And Hell Quantity 2’ a shimmering star that no mild can diminish, and concludes an album that could be a heady delight, being redolent of previous glories, while eagerly forging contemporary triumphs.
Solar-kissed and dreamy, exultant however melancholic, passionate however plaintive, the Reegs have been, and nonetheless are, a band able to frightening a large number of musical feelings within the listener. As Buffalo Springfields Stephen Stills as soon as memorably intones us ‘There one thing occurring right here…’
Certainly, there’s…
So, hear once more…
For it’s the sound that entrances you…Because it has earlier than…and can once more…
The dual guitar telepathy of Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies…
The sound of Manchester Dreaming
The sound of the Reegs…
Go bathe in its mild…
Forewords by Wayne Carey, Evaluations Editor for Louder Than Warfare. His writer profile is right here
Album evaluate by Stephen Canavan. Discover his writer archive right here.
A Plea From Louder Than Warfare
Louder Than Warfare is run by a small however devoted impartial crew, and we depend on the small sum of money we generate to maintain the location working easily. Any cash we do get shouldn’t be lining the pockets of oligarchs or mad-cap billionaires dictating what our journalists are allowed to suppose and write, or hungry shareholders. We all know occasions are powerful, and we wish to proceed bringing you information on probably the most fascinating releases, the most recent gigs and the rest that tickles our fancy. We’re not pushed by revenue, simply pure enthusiasm for a scene that each one in all us is captivated with.
To us, music and tradition are eveything, with out them, our very souls shrivel and die. We don’t cost artists for the publicity we give them and to many, what we do is completely very important. Subscribing to one in all our paid tiers takes only a minute, and every sign-up makes a big impact, serving to to maintain the flame of impartial music burning! Please click on the button beneath to assist.
John Robb – Editor in Chief
