Celebrity
Freekshow - The Struts - Ice Pick Records.
Producer: Helmet Krapp 'remix'.
Review by Jimmy Virgo. *****
The Band.
DAVE "VAN" STRUT...........DRUMS
ARTHUR STRUT...............RHYTHM GUITARS/B.Vox
JIMMY "TWINKLE" PRICE......LEAD VOCALS
BARRY FISHBONE.............BASS
"THE CORNER"...............LEAD GUITARS
Like all the best rock 'n' roll stories, The Struts real life odyssey
is stranger than fiction.
Now, with their own label packaging the group's first album, 'Celebrity
Freekshow', this piece of
rock history in the making, is a sobering reminder of how far The Struts
have travelled, (anonymously at first), and how those to-Hell-and-back
drug exploits are nothing compared to the feat of turning this car-wreck
of Punk ZZ Top, Free and Stones into a multi-platinum concern.
How did they manage that?
This is a band consolidating their talents rather than simply showcasing
them. Lead vocalist James, Jimmy 'Twinkle' Price has likened this debut album
to "making wine", and the result is a fine vintage.
All the rampant, stuttering (or should we say 'Struttering') post
punk guitar chops and riffs, galvanize the
metronome simplicity of Dave Van Strut's drumming style, which is perfectly
demonstrated for example on
'Too Far Gone'.
Given the importance that The Struts seem to place on human connections,
'American Idol' is curiously
self-defeating. To hear 'The Corner' (lead guitarist) strike out with
axe-crashing accuracy whilst simultaneously,
hearing Price's vocal couching what is an undoubtable lyric in such oblique,
impenetrable imagery.
Helmet Krapp's latest production remix certainly stands up to scrutiny,
and is no better demonstrated here,
with great clarity, in 'Dumbin' Me Down', a particularly mischievous,
misanthropic ditty, a cold pint of lager top,
where the lemonade is introduced from a bottle named Jagger & Richards,
not R. Whites.
Artistic license is often abused to the degree that, from point
'A' to point 'B', the thread or purpose is ditched
into confusion and disarray. The Struts however, are resolute, and guide
their 'C F' rock missile directly to the target, without faltering or
losing their way, launched with deadly precision in 'Ego-Maniac'. A tense
progress, an uncompromising speed ride, a high voltage punk ACDC if you
will: Like Angus Young making a mug of hot chocolate, having left the
milk on the boil in the kitchen in the little aluminium saucepan, on
the 'Highway To Hell' before he blows up your video, before the milk
finally boils over, hissing like a poison snake being swung from it's
tail, leaving a nasty stain on the hob - (if you can imagine that!).
With the added bonus surprise tracks such as ‘Bitter Love’ and
'Shape God Made Her', 'Celebrity Freekshow' stands as an audacious, bold
and rocking statement, an album that raises the bar for any rock band
who aspire to re-writing the rulebook.
Jimmy Virgo. June 2006. Pratt's Ward, Third floor, QE2 Hospital,
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.
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