07/00 nighshift released

taken from nightshift online

THE ANIMALHOUSE

ÎReady to Receiveâ
(Boilerhouse) - Released 3rd July

Another month, another Animalhouse release. This time itâs the title track from their debut album, which was released in the UK on import-only last month. ÎReady To Receiveâ has long since been the bandâs magnum opus, itâs neo-psychedelic grooving cutting Rideâs soaring rock blueprint up with a lock-tight dance beat before going all proggy and wobbly on us. As is ever the case with these things, it canât quite match the titanic power of its live incarnation, but with clever adjustment of your volume knob you can start to get the feel.

And so, with familiarity almost rendering further critique of the lead track redundant, we find ourselves knee-deep in bonus tracks from the two CD formats. ÎChase the Sunâ sounds remarkably like Shakatak doing Burt Bacharachâs ÎWhat the World Needs Nowâ, which suggests that too many years lounging it at Disques Vogue has turned someoneâs head. Similarly minded and only marginally better is ÎOne Night Onlyâ which is brassily retro in a kind of Pigbag do the theme tune to Starsky & Hutch way. Itâs all rather kitsch and even if itâs done in all seriousness itâs a bit tacky.

Plump instead for CD2 where you get Evening Session versions of previous singles ÎSmallâ and ÎAnimalâ tagged on. Each remains slickly faithful to the recorded versions and as such makes the CD something of a mini ÎBest Ofâ. Better still, go get the album.

John Leeson

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