Revolver

More or less dismissed by the U.K. press as a 1991 animal (i.e. "shoegazing is dead and we never really liked these guys anyway") many might not notice the stylistic maturity Revolver shows now. The progression is announced right away on the opening "Cool Blue" with the much deeper (almost reggae deep) bass by Hamish Brown and those blaring trumpets. No longer content just blissing out with a standard, fuzzed-out guitar pop-tune about some girl we could care less about, each song here seems built on its own unique base -- for example, "Shakesdown" is just an acoustic strummed harshly more than banged, a wandering flute, and Mat Flint's voice. In some ways they do their cause some disservice by re-recording "Crimson," an older A-side inexplicably left off Baby's Angry. It is perhaps the band's finest old song, but it seems out of place among this much more interesting, singular collection. "Cradle Snatch" is as slithering as a snake, as cool as a cucumber, as unnerving as a lit fuse that never seems to explode. Oozing out over that heavy bass and the off-rhythm toms and congas (!!!) is a chorus in the making, and when it kicks in near the end after a period of silence, the effect is complete. Correspondingly, "I Wear Your Chain" improves on their old mold by adding loud plucked strings, more stop/start dynamics, a gripping guitar line, and some crisp rat-a-tat drumming from Nick Dewey. By the time it reaches the "Why can't you be with me?" chorus they've set us up to be knocked down, and the tumble feels good. That's how it's supposed to work, when songs gain a better complexity, and that's a perfect example of why this LP betters their past LPs. Cold Water Flat does have one minor but ever-present flaw: Flint's vocals are a little on the cloying side, as if he's trying too hard to curl the vowels into something more memorable, making Revolver a little drippy where their music is otherwise a hell of a lot more enervating. That aside, the end result is a strong album from a band many considered second division, a perception that is unfairly holding down this band's popularity. Will anyone listen long enough to see how they've grown? ~ Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide