Tvfordogs - I Only Wanted to Make You Cry

by Kimberly Bright

published: 9 / 6 / 2021

Tvfordogs - I Only Wanted to Make You Cry

Label: Gare du Nord Records
Format: CD

tvfordogs’ fifth album is a thrillride of educated, articulate, and edgy glam rock

Review

London-based power trio tvfordogs have been creating catchy, tightly woven indie rock since the early ‘00s when they released their debut ‘Heavy Denver’. On their fifth album, ‘I Only Wanted to Make You Cry’, singer-guitarist Neil Luckett, bassist Mark Homer, and drummer Paul Jarrett have created a melodic, energetic, and hard rocking collection of solid tracks. Their modus operandi was to create Anglophile American rock music coming full circle by reimagining it as original native English rock. The album is classic garage rock and Pacific Northwest grunge meets Pink Floyd, Free, Big Star, and a bit of top tier Britpop. The music was recorded live at Banana Road Studios in southeast London. Neil Luckett’s guitar work often leans toward a Dave Gilmour influence (‘Heading for the Sea’, ‘I Hope;) as well as hints of Alice in Chains, Foo Fighters (‘I’m a Liar’), and Stone Temple Pilots (‘Crime and Punishment’). “Fire in your eyes and lead boots on your feet / The cocktail you were drinking couldn’t be that sweet,” Luckett sings on ‘Lead Boots’. mocking needless aggression. ‘The Last Days of Rome’ is full-throttle heavy, stomping glam rock and ‘Little Death’ is a literate, Bob Mould-esque celebration of sex. Luckett’s unwavering voice is by turns smooth, gritty, sneering, emotionally contained, and expressive, along the lines of Dave Grohl, Gary Cherone, Scott Weiland and Eddie Vedder but with the wit of Warren Zevon and Andy Partridge. He is a classically trained composer who has written orchestral, chamber, and classical pieces, scores for films and television, in addition to the well-crafted indie rock/pop songs he has created as a solo artist and with Tvfordogs and his acoustic band Rabbit in the Blood. He has worked with other artists such as So Solid, Phil Dodd, Butterfly Stitch, Idiotboy, and Lisa Scott Lee. With this extensive background and education no one would fault him for turning in bombastic triple-album prog rock with its own fully formed accompanying mythology. The fact that he is probably very overqualified for tvfordogs’ uncomplicated indie rock doesn’t stop him from writing it anyway -- and doing a stellar job. The album ends on a quiet note with final song ‘I Hope’, with a psychedelic vocal effect backed by a melancholy but dreamy arrangement that drifts off gently into the stratosphere. A moody end to a breathtakingly direct and melodic rock record.

Track Listing:-

1 I'm a Liar
2 I Only Wanted to Make You Cry
3 Flags
4 Crime and Punishment
5 Heading for the Sea
6 Lead Boots
7 Little Death
8 Great Mistake
9 The Last Days of Rome
10 I Hope