398) Sunhouse - Crazy On The Weekend

Gavin Clark is not a household name. A friend of Shane Meadows who had made music for his films, and made several albums with his band Clayhill, he also was considering delivering pizzas after drifting away from music when Meadows made a documentary about him relaunching him back into music working with UNKLE and working on further music, sadly troubled he died at the age of forty-five in 2015.

You may be thinking I don’t know him, sadly he never got the credit he deserved but he should have been up there with his first release when his band Sunhouse (Paul Bacon on guitar, Robert Brooks on bass and Dominic Dilllon on drums who all deliver here) released their only album Crazy On the Weekend.

We open with the title track under two minutes and it’s a gentle introduction to what is coming our way just acoustic guitar and Gavin Clark’s vocal, Hurricane starts in similar fashion but at just over the minute mark the band arrive and a sweet sad harmonica is added to the mix and a subdued guitar solo, this is the moment your ears are telling you that something special is happening and they up the ante for Chasing the Dream where the organ is prominent and Clark leads the band in style.

Spinning Around the Sun has the added joy of an accordion and Good Day to Die should be one of those songs we all look back on like Bitter Sweet Symphony, Look Back in Anger and Common People, in the charts for months, soundtracking moments, tv series and films and all glad we bought it when it went to number one.

Loud Crowd the band play a restrained back up before unleashing themselves providing able back up to Clark’s voice and just in case you are not sure of his voice he somehow seems even more heartfelt on Monkey Dead, no tune should be this joyful with such bleeding lyrics.

Hard Sun is achingly beautiful with strings and of course most songs are enhanced when the much-missed Sinead O’Connor appears on backing vocals as she does here and then Swing Low is atmospheric and simple and effective all in one tune.

Animal is seven minutes of intensity with the band bashing away and Clark tearing his lungs out on the chorus and they take us out gently with Second Coming.

Despite great reviews the record did nothing and the band split the following year and reading on the internet many say this record deserves to be recognised just like the late Nick Drake, if this review gets even a couple of people to listen and enjoy this record then that will be worth it for me. 

Magnificent and someone get it re-released on record so I can buy it.

10/10

GIVE IT A STREAM: Good Day To Die