Torch Junkies - Mercedes Cadillac

Hear The Track Here

Bing fekkin Bong!! That's the sound I heard when I first noticed this track in the review list. Not, as you might imagine a horde of rabid, foaming at the mouth Avon ladies (hey, these are tough times), but those regular bells that mean you should be remembering something. I could have sworn (and in fact did, copiously and often) that I had done a review of a previous Torch Junkies track. Now, the unfortunate part of this story is that I only get the rabid Avon Lady sound when I have dished someone a bit harshly. So, I had a rummage and finally came up with a scruffy bit of paper (Ed: he means his blog, no one uses paper any more do they?) with a review of Immobilized By Love (October 2007) upon it. Re-reading that review it was obvious that I was dealing with competent musicians and a production team of monkeys.

Of course, not literally. But close to it.

There are four musicians (I think) and one drum machine in the band, and they are influenced by 1)The Rolling Stones and 2) English pub-rockers. Aaaahh, now you begin to get the picture... Stands to reason then that there is likely to be a certain looseness about the performance but - unlike its predecessor - Mercedes Caddilac manages to restrain that element enough to give a much better picture of what the band actually does. Have to say that the initial plays weren't exactly promising as there were (again) some fairly glaring production problems.

Doesn't stop the song coming through, a kinda pop rock affair that seriously flirts with country from time to time. When I read that the band made this on an 8 track recorder, those same production problems become much more understood. Despite some regular clipping on the main sound level, and some difference between the different elements of the song it's still a very decent rock song. Not going to set the world on fire, that's for sure, but if you like easy going, distinctly pub rock then this will certainly go down well with the next pint.

Workmanlike pub rock sound. Probably wonderful with some neck oil.