Dodgy: Free Peace Sweet - 1996
We re-convene on my unexpected BritPop journey, then, for Dodgy's third album, one that is considered their best by many. I have seen the album described as "underwhelming". Bollocks. Just maybe, in the age of CD, the group overstretched themselves with over an hour of music and several numbers over minutes in length, however. It is not as poppily concise as Homegrown had been. The problem BritPop bands had, like sixties poppers, punks and new wavers before them was that after a few albums of guitar pop what else could they do? If they attempted to diversify slightly they got slated for pretentiousness. If they stuck to the formula, then they were boring. Dodgy experienced this problem and it eventually saw their demise, only periodically releasing further albums.
This was their Imperial Bedroom.
To the album. It starts with a bit of ambient drums and guitar sounds before a muscular acoustic strum leads us into the superb In A Room. The moment when the drums and electric riffs kick in is impressively powerful. What seventies rock song does that lead riff remind me of? I'll spend all day trying to work it out. Maybe it's The Rolling Stones' Highwire or maybe something else. Either way, this is a fine song, make no mistake - Oasis with more melody, less bombast and a sixties-influenced ear for a vocal hook. It's definitely one of the group's best numbers.
Classic riffage is present again on the new wave meets sixties pop of Trust In Time. Get a load of that crazy organ backing in places too. This could be one of those sixties garage-rock "nuggets", couldn't it? A Rolling Stones on Live With Me rolling drums and throbbing bass introduce the equally impressive You've Gotta Look Up, a song that also has some mid-sixties Who echoes in it.
If You're Thinking Of Me is an Oasis-like orchestrated rock ballad but one delivered with Dodgy's slightly softer touch, rendering it slightly more accessible. A bit like Oasis's material would be on the following year's Be Here Now album, though, it may attract accusations of bloating. Just as I'm writing that, however, it's finished.
There's certainly no bloating involved in possible Dodgy's most famous track - the infectious singalong summery gorgeousness of Good Enough. This is one of those BritPop songs I knew and liked from back in its time without ever knowing who performed it. Partly responsible for that was all the random one-word band names that were so popular, I think. If singer Nigel Clark had released it under his own name I would have remembered it, I reckon.
Hold on! Has George Harrison and Ananda Shankar entered the studio? It would seem that way on the Indian-influenced percussion intro of Ain't No Longer Asking. It is a strange hybrid of Beach Boys sixties pop, BritPop breeziness, the weirdness of Beck and Beatles-like Eastern vibes. It is Dodgy's Heroes And Villains. It has a certain oddball, freaky appeal, though, I have to say. Give it a listen - it couldn't be more different to Good Enough, could it?
Found You returns to the here and now in its albeit sixties-influenced BritPop youthful joy. It is classic mid-nineties pop. Even though it has a sixties feel, you just think "nineties" as soon as you hear it. One Of Those Rivers is a beautiful, laid-back acoustic song with Paul Weller hints in there. It is a thoroughly nice song but it struggles to justify its seven minutes-plus length. That said, I like the country rock guitar at the end. Prey For Drinking ups the tempo on a lyrically cynical piece of upbeat, rock. The drumming on here is very Keith Moon and that continues even more so on the oh-so blatantly Who-esque urban take of miscreant Jack The Lad. I love the deep basslines on this too. I can't stop drumming along on my desktop to this either.
The Who influence is also present on the Quadrophenia-ish sound of Long Life. The quiet bits sound particularly like The Who. The guitar soloes have that definite Oasis sound to them. Mid-nineties BritPoppers loved string orchestration too, didn't they? Proving they were not just hoodie-wearing oiks I guess.
UK R. I. P is a brooding, evocative number with a vague feeling of later-era Clash, The Ruts and Massive Attack trip-hop about it. Lead guitarist Andy Miller has subsequently acknowledged this and also said of the song - "we were trying to distance ourselves from the jingoistic, xenophobic bullshit that Britpop was throwing up". There is something punk/post punk/early eighties about it. It is the album's most serious and intense number.
Slightly confusingly, the album ends with Homegrown, the title of the previous album (it doesn't appear on there). It is a subtly melodic, acoustic and relaxing song with a pathos in Nigel Clark's vocal delivery. There is a lot of Paul Weller in its overall sound. That old orchestration is present too, sad strings backing Clark's melancholy musings. The song closes with some Eastern-style distant chanting - always a sign of pretension but don't let that put you off the album. I would say, however, that Good Enough remains quite incongruous within the album's roster. That must have disappointed many who bought the album on the back of it. That's not the first time that sort of thing has happened, though, is it?
There you are, then, my journey into the world of Dodgy is over. It was fun and illuminating.
