Gareth - 4/29/2012
Dodgy's first album since the 2001 album "Real Estate' and 16 years since their last album with all three original band members 'Free Peace Sweet', released in 1996.
Nigel Clarke (vocals & bass), Matthew Priest (Drums) and Andy Miller (guitar) released their first album 'The Dodgy Album' in 1993, a good solid album produced by the Lighting Seeds' Ian Broudie. This hinted at the trade mark Dodgy sound to come with their next to follow up albums. 1994's 'Homegrown' was far more successful offering containing 'Staying out for the Summer', 'So Let Me Go Far' and 'Making The Most Of'. This was a less polished sounding affair. Their most successful album 'Free Peace Sweet' came in 1996, containing the hits 'In A Room', 'Good Enough ' and 'If You're Thinking Of Me'. In 1998 Nigel Clarke left the band to peruse solo projects, however Matthew Priest and Andy Miller continued on with the name Dodgy, releasing the fourth album 'Real estate' in 2001, an album paid for and funded by the fans through the Dodgy website. Matt and Andy recruited new labour for the album in the form of David Bassey as lead vocalist, Nick Abnett on bass and Chris Hallam on the keys.
The original line up reformed in 2007 and has been slow in acquiring a record deal and music industry support for their next album. They have toured, released bootlegs, live albums and singles but no real body of new material to speak of until now 2012.
The album title 'Stand Up Right in a Cool Pace' sounds like a Dodgy title, as in Dodgy the band not, just a dodgy title. However the art work looks like it could have been lifted from some generic basic computer programme like Microsoft word art, as it looks basic and a little novice to say the least. However, this album has received rave reviews from Q, Mojo and Uncut. On first listen it sounds like Dodgy and it doesn't at the same time. A similar sound, usage of chords and Nigel Clarkes vocal are all present. However the sound is of a more mature, maybe folk nature and Nigel's vocal somehow different, with a more experimental vocal, acrobatic, albeit within a certain security. Many songs on the album sound a little similar, with no one necessary stand out track and after getting my head round the like dodgy but somehow not dodgy quandary; it is as the other reviews suggest a successful return by Dodgy.
Two tracks on the album are based on an 800 year old Malvern folk law/myth, Malvern being the now home of Nigel Clarke. The folk law goes, that a religious man (a monk), after spending his whole life serving the church 'Tripped and Fell' one day for a beautiful local woman and therefore betraying the church and all that he had known. He was then made to climb 'Raggedstone Hill' on his hands and knees every day to pray for forgiveness. He was also banned from ever seeing the lady again. This made him evil and twisted, which then drove him to put a curse on the hill, that bad look would fall upon any inhabitants of any house that the shadow of the hill should fall upon on a certain day of the year.
The stronger tracks are 'What Became Of You' beautifully sang lines from Nigel such as "Why can't you lie, I don't want the truth", 'We Try', 'Shadows' including the again understanding line "and you can pretend, you know what to do, but I can see the shadows hanging over you", 'Did It Have To Be This Way', 'Back Of You' and 'Happy Ending'. 'Back of you', an early favourite about the government and party promises states "I can't believe your putting me through this once again; I thought we'd seen the back of you, believed it was the end". With the weaker offerings appearing to be 'Waiting for the Sun', which starts poorly with the title and continues with its unoriginality from there on, 'Only a Heartbeat' and 'Find A Place'.
I purchased the deluxe version of the album, which contained a second cd 'More Songs' or 'Lying Down in the Fridge'. However, to be honest, not really worth the additional spend unless a real Dodgy fan. It's a little misleading as only three of the nine songs are recorded by all three members of Dodgy, these being 'We're Gonna Be Together', 'Down In The Flood' and 'Forgive Me', the latter two having been previously released as a double A side single through the Dodgy web site. 'Let's Wait Till We Get There' is a previously unreleased track, recorded in 1993, the other five songs are solo Nigel Clarke recordings between 2007 and 2011 and therefore shouldn't really be included here.
Although, initially slow to enthuse about this album, I now believe it to be a very strong Dodgy album, still very much Dodgy, but a more mature sounding offering.