Razorlight - Stumble And Fall

by Anthony Strutt

published: 30 / 1 / 2004

Label: Mercury
Format: CDS

"Fresh and fun" multi-formatted second single from Tom Verlaine-influenced Razorlight

Review

If you haven’t heard this yet, then wake up please !!! This is how rock ‘n’ roll should be. It’s fresh and fun. So what if it sounds like Tom Verlaine and Television ? When it is this good who cares. From 0.01 seconds in ‘Stumble and Fall’ grabs you with its gritty guitar, throbbing bass and pacey drums. The vocals are like Tom Verlaine’s to a T. Already one of the the best singles of 2004, this song is completely instant. This band could be as big as the Smiths. On hearing it, you wont’t forget it. There are 2 CDS versions of ‘Stumble and Fall’. The second song on the first CD is ‘For Georgia : At the Hammersmith Working Men’s Club’. It is a new wave style late 70’s teenage tale of heartfelt love, and is short and to the point, but brilliant for it. The second CD is very limited, but copies are still available at the moment. The first of its two B Sides is called ‘Control’, and features some light strumming which reminds me of the Only Ones and the Cure on ‘ 10. 15 Saturday night’. It also has some cool bass that slowly works its way up along with the rest of the instrumentation to become completely manic after 1 minute 45 seconds. It is how new wave should sound. The second B side is a “Toerag” demo of their last single ‘Rip It Up’. There is also a 7” version, which has as its B side ‘We All Get Up’. Many of the 7” copies are warped or scratched, but, if you can play it, it has some strong vocals about the differences between boys and girls. It is very clever and has throughout a sort of Clash reggae vibe.