274) Soup Dragons - This Is Our Art

Remember we mentioned Bellshill in Review 217. For those of you who have not heard of Bellshill it’s a town in North Lanarkshire about ten miles from Glasgow. So, what I hear you ask, well they are also responsible for three bands Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits and The Soup Dragons. Impressed yet? Okay how about I throw in the most successful musician from there? Step forward Sheena Easton, oh okay too far. (If you are interested try and watch Teenage Superstars where they are all featured on a documentary about the Scottish indie scene, not Sheena Easton sadly).

The Soup Dragons are known for their big dance hit I’m Free, but they were so much more than this.

That old staple The Chart Show had played Hang-Ten and was my kind of thing all fast guitars and as indie as it came so, although disappointed that Hang Ten, was not on the debut I bought This is Our Art without hearing a note.

Kingdom Chairs opens the album, bit to shouty for me but when the harmonica comes in towards the end and the band step up, I can enjoy it for what it is, an opener to draw you in.

The Majestic Head? with the lyric “growing in size” I’ll let you draw your own conclusions but it’s a bit different, almost 60’s psychedelic sounding and Turning Stone would not sound out of place on a Small Faces album.

I enjoy Jim McCulloch’s guitar on Vacate My Space and On Overhead Walkways is early Go-Betweens before the band decide they want to be AC/DC with an organ solo thrown in on Passion Protein, McCulloch, bassist Sushil K Dade and drummer Ross Sinclair are a tight unit.

King of the Castle has maybe a bit too much thrown into it but Soft As Your Face is a perfect indie song. Sean’s voice fits, the harmonizing backing vocals are lovely and the chime of McCulloch’s guitar is riveting.

All in their early twenties and clearly still learning on this debut they are now back playing together, I saw them last year, well worth your time if you can catch them, as is this record.

7/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Soft As Your Face