– The Singles So Far & Then Some… –
Gathering all of the band’s singles… and then some (which is two bonus cuts), The Walnut Dash’s debut CD release is a perfect marriage of mid sixties mod aesthetics and MODerndaze delivery.
Resulting in short-sharp-snappy melodic bombs, that will hit you in the head one after another like “dashing walnuts”, being over before you even have time to realize what has hit you (in 18 minutes that is!?).
There’s a funny definition of their sound in the press release, describing them as “The Hollies meeting The Buzzcocks and hiring in a decent tailor” being quite true actually, it’s just that I’d add some Undertones and Who-pop-artistic adventurousness too.
If the opening Going Straight would be the only one around, the Hollies-Buzzcocks reference would be absolutely perfect, needing nothing more to be added.
It’s B-side Sarah H. slows it down a bit, joining the Big Star ‘Fanclub, while Your Mum comes in a “dash” again, being kind of a Have You Seen Your Mother… for the new millennium, in an early Supergrass-y way, before they got brainy (which is not necessarily a bad thing).
On the back of the second single, Just Feel the Stone Rose-smelling jangle with an extra harmony or two, followed with the power-popin’ Kinky-driven riffage of I’m In Love and Top Drawer, which is also where they take us with one of the bonuses (Cheers To Yer), while the other one “punches” the Stupid O’clock (n The Morning) Costello-way.
Though I’m always up for less-than-half-an-hour albums, I wouldn’t mind cracking these walnuts for a few more minutes… but hey, I can always play it all over again, so why complain?!
[Released by Vinyl Japan 2004]
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