Off the records review: The Long Blondes “Someone to Drive YOU Home”
June 12, 2007 by Matthew 
Send to a Friend
The concept is simple: every week Matthew will review a record of note from last week, the system is based on Star(r)s, and at the end of the day lets you know what is in stores (or itunes or emusic) for you now.
Rating system
0 stars - Complete and utter garbage
1 star - Best just not to ever press play, save your ears for another day
2 stars - Not completely atrocious, but one you’ll probably forget about as soon as it’s over
3 stars - Good, but not great, likely with some excellent songs and others you’ll skip right through
4 stars - Damn good album, one you’ll definitely want to enjoy again and again
5 stars - Instant Classic
This week, in the wake of their show at R’N'R hotel and a brand spanking new US release, he tackles those British glam punk pop kids everyone seems to love: The Long Blondes
3.5 stars
Tracklisting:
1. Lust In The Movies
2. Once And Never Again
3. Only Lovers Left Alive
4. Giddy Stratospheres
5. In The Company Of Women
6. Heaven Help The New Girl
7. Separated By Motorways
8. You Could Have Both
9. Swallo Tattoo
10. Weekend Without Makeup
11. Madame Ray
12. A Knife For The Girls
Is it me or is everything that comes out of England these days doomed to disappoint? Every single band sounds exactly like either Franz Ferdinand or The Libertines (who in turn sound like Gang of Four and The Jam, respectively) and are hyped to death by the NME before their first single ever hits the streets. So can The Long Blondes, the latest love of the British music press, avoid the fate of all those who have come before them these last few years and actually live up to their pre-release buzz? The answer, in short, is “no, of course not.” But the Long Blondes do have something going for them that few British bands do these days, a unique identity, and that combined with some catchy melodies is enough to make for a pretty successful debut album.
Instead of joining the ranks of the Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, the Arctic Monkeys and all the others who have hopped on the post-punk bandwagon, the Long Blondes have picked two distinct influences that somehow all of these other bands have completely avoided, Blondie and Pulp. Lead singer Kate Jackson was such a huge Pulp fan that she chose Jarvis Cocker’s hometown of Sheffield to attend college, and as fate would have it, it was there that she met the four other musicians who would become The Long Blondes. Jarvis and co.’s influence can be felt throughout Someone to Drive You Home, most notably on “In the Company of Women,” on which Jackson mimics Cocker’s croon to a tee. However, whether intentional or not, it is the spirit of Debbie Harry that looms largest over the album. “Weekend Without Makeup,” with its angular guitars, synthesizers and outrageously catchy new-wave vibe sounds as if it could sit right next to “One Way or Another” from 1978’s Parallel Lines.
The album is full of fun, bouncy anthems that would make a perfect soundtrack to a hip summer barbecue. It’s no surprise that four singles from Someone to Drive You Home have already been released in England, but for every brilliant song like “Once and Never Again” that will have you shaking your butt before you even realize it, there’s a song like “Madame Ray” that you’ll forget about ten seconds after it’s over. Fortunately the best tracks simply cannot be ignored and make the album worth the admission price. “Giddy Stratospheres” hits you with hook after hook after hook for a song so unbelievably infectious that it could end up being “the” song of the summer, and “Separated by Motorways” is two minutes of 60s girl-group-inspired pop deliciousness.
The Long Blondes are not blazing any new trails and wear their influences on their sleeves and for that reason alone, it would be nearly impossible for them to make a perfect album, but their debut does about as well as it possibly can. Though there are a few missteps along the way, Someone to Drive You Home has at least established The Long Blondes as a fantastic singles band. Hey, there are worse things, remember, some of the bands we love and respect most, The Cure and The Buzzcocks, for example, were known as singles bands.
Out this week:
Datarock – Datarock
John Doe – A Year in the Wilderness
Fabolous – From Nothin’ to Somethin’
Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris
Mark Ronson – Version (US Release)
