Yards - Yards
by Dixie Ernill
published: 19 / 4 / 2005

Label:
Snapper Music
Format: CD
intro
Agreeable debut album from the Yards, the new band of former Seahorses frontman Chris Helme
It’s very difficult to review someone’s new band without reference to their old one, so let’s get the history lesson out of the way first. The Yards frontman, Chris Helme, provided the vocal tapestry to John Squire’s guitar licks in his post Stone Roses combo the Seahorses. They had a few hits and caused a bit of a stir in the late 1990’s, but then disappeared almost as soon as they had arrived. Prior to forming the Yards with Stu Fletcher, Chris Farrell, John Miller and Jon Hargreaves, Helme took time out to embark on fatherhood. The break didn’t dampen his passion for music and the Yards were born. The Seahorses fans will not be disappointed with opening track, 'Forget Your Regrets', but this LP is certainly no identikit of the aforementioned. If anything it nods more towards fellow Yorkshiremen and comeback kings, Embrace (whose resurgence is both phenomenal and unfathomable in equal measures). Their influence is particularly prominent on tracks like 'Get Off My Back', 'Crime' and 'On The Inside'. Lighters aloft anyone? Elsewhere, the Yards aren’t afraid to rock out on 'The Devil Is Alive And Well In D.C.', which has an agreeable Doors feel or to branch off on their own flights of fancy on album highlight 'Superhuman.' A decent opening salvo, all told, but I’m not sure how they will fit into rock’s current jigsaw. I fear they are either just too late to grab Coldplay’s coat-tails or too early to start their own revolution. Either way, I wish them well, but I think there is some distance left to travel !
Track Listing:-
1 Forget Your Regrets2 Get Off My Back
3 Devil Is Alive And Well And In DC
4 Only Myself To Blame
5 Crime
6 On The Inside
7 Superhuman
8 Pure
9 California
10 Fireflies
11 Up 'Til Dawn
Label Links:-
http://www.snappermusic.com/most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Liz Mitchell - Interview
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Lauren Mayberry - Photoscapes
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
Garfunkel and Garfunkel Jr. - Interview
Maarten Schiethart - Vinyl Stories
Clive Langer - Interview
Sukie Smith - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the JumboNigel Stonier - Wolf Notes
Wings - Venus and Mars
Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn - Songs For The Trees
Only Child - Holy Ghosts
Neil Campbell - The Turnaround
Philip Jeays - Victoria
Darkness - Dreams On Toast
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
Charles Ellsworth - Cosmic Cannon Fodder
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart