Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

This was Ocean Colour Scene's debut album and one which found them not quite knowing what they wanted to be - a trippy, "Madchester"-influenced contemporary band, or a retrospective pysch-pop outfit with a few soul hints here and there. For that reason, it never really caught the public's attention, and the group seemingly went into cold storage for four years, until Paul Weller/Noel Gallagher resurrected them and they recorded the successful Moseley Shoals album. The group were always one to showcase their influences, but they also had a fair amount of creative innovation and originality, which makes this an interesting and beguiling album worthy of a listen.                             Talk On is a very Small Faces-influenced number, updated with some bassy, substantial early nineties backing. How About You also taps in to a vague late sixties vibe with a bit of psychedelic hippiness about it.  Giving It All Away is a rhythmic, infectious song, with another sixties-

Ocean Colour Scene had, in 1996, been around for several years, releasing one eponymous album in 1992 and then being "rescued" in Bowie/Mott The Hoople fashion by Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher. Guitarist Steve Cradock went on to play with Weller for years (and still does) while bassist Damon Minchella also played with Weller on tour. Anyway, briefly, the group became the next big thing. They were a mix of sixties psych rock, freakbeat, folk rock and blues rock influences mixed with smatterings of soul and funk just here and there. They were very difficult to categorise, but the and something. They could certainly play, and they maximised their influences well, merging them with their own style to create something relatively unique. Weller, in fact, plays organ, guitar and piano at points throughout this album. For some reason, however, it all went wrong and the music media turned on them, dragging a lot of the public along at the same time, so much so that people these days

This was Ocean Colour Scene's third album, and probably the last one they got away with before the music media and the the public turned on them as they did with other bands like Sleeper. Even more so with Ocean Colour Scene, I was at a loss to understand what they did wrong. Their albums, and particularly this one, are quirkily appealing creations, full of all sorts of influences and a myriad of styles. They were instrumentally extremely competent and inventive and their albums are always worth several listens. There is so much beneath the surface. What there also is, sometimes, is, despite a deep bass sound, is a bit of tinniness in the production. Hundred Mile City kicks off the album off with a magnificently vibrant, frenetic piece of psychedelic riffy rock. It is packed with all sorts of freaky sounds, man. There is something of Thin Lizzy to it.  Better Day is a George Harrison-esque slow rock ballad with a lovely bass line and that late sixties Beatles influence all over it.