Eisenhowers - Almost Half Undressed

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 22 / 10 / 2006

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Review

Yeah, I know we should never judge a book by the cover or a CD by it’s inlay, but even though there are few words inside this CD they are amusing and well worth reading which puts one in a good frame of mind before the CD even gets anywhere near the player. But first impressions of the sound this eight-strong band make were not too impressive; listening to the opening song ‘Useless Love’ I had to change headphones three times before the vocals sounded anything like listenable. It sounded like the headphones were blown, which they are not, but maybe it’s just some highly technical detail about this one song that didn’t like the first two sets of headphones I tried as the following songs all sounded okay. But, once the headphones were sorted out, the revealed sound was simply beautiful. Prefab Sprout immediately came to mind for a reason I couldn’t quite fathom out. Maybe it was the lush sound of this opening song, maybe it was the glorious melody or maybe it was just simply that it was one of the best pop songs I’ve heard in a long while. It was no lucky opening shot either, for the following eleven songs, all written by Raymond Weir who also plays guitar and keyboards and who, along with Stuart MacLeod, who also adds guitar, keyboards, bass and backing vocals, co-produced the album with Weir, are all finely-crafted pop songs with heavenly melodies, stunning harmonies and first class playing from all the musicians involved. This, the band’s debut album, is apparently, a compilation of songs taken from several abandoned projects, not that you’d notice. The album hangs together extremely well if the songs were written over a period of time and for different ventures. There are a good few bands currently looking back to the 70's for inspiration and who produce good melodic pop songs; The Feeling come immediately to mind and the Eisenhowers follow much the same musical route albeit with a little more grit and a lot more humour. It’s one of those albums where it takes no time at all to become familiar with the songs. One gets the feeling that they have been around and played on the radio for what seems like ages, but not annoyingly so. The songs are extremely catchy but in the same way that the songs of Jellyfish and Squeeze were catchy. I’m well aware that those comparisons have been made time and again in the past but for once they are spot on. The album was recorded in Glasgow which is where the band hail from but the music made by the Eisenhowers knows no boundaries. It could have been made in America, Scandinavia or almost anywhere. Weir’s vocals are particularly strong. He can switch from gentle to strong, and at times does so within the same song with apparent ease and his are the type of vocals one feels comfortable with immediately. There’s synths played to great effect, particularly on ‘25 o’clock’ and there is not a dull or dud song on the album. Weir is obviously extremely talented at creating memorable pop songs of a very high quality and it would take very few radio plays of any of these twelve songs to get the band noticed. The songs really are that instant. Just now ‘…And Consequently’ is the favourite around these parts. Its chorus (oh yeah, real songs, remember those?) really is one of those ‘once heard never forgotten’ moments and the guitar solo really is something else. Jellyfish are sorely missed and in the Eisenhowers we have found a band more than capable of filling the gap they made when they split. This album is highly recommended to all lovers of good, solid pop music and the best of its kind to emerge in a very long time.

Track Listing:-

1 Useless Love
2 Novelty Act
3 25 O'clock
4 ... and Consequently
5 Let's Not Talk About Me
6 The Abracadabra Man
7 Jigsaw
8 If Satellites Should Fall
9 Mr. and Mrs.Frankenstein
10 If I Had to Make a List
11 Constantinople
12 Plastic Jesus

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/raymond.weir.
https://twitter.com/RaymondWeir
http://raymondweir.blogspot.com/