I feel I should qualify this, and say that this is a GOOD thing.
'Nobody Knows' continues the tradition of spiky garage/powerpop, with melody and harmony a-plenty.
The touchstones of The Who, The Small Faces and the Kinks mixed with viscarel punk(ish) sounds and a dollop of psychedelia to boot. But it's not just a nod to the past. As a whole entity, 'Nobody Knows' is a properly contemporary album in style, sound and delivery.
You get 13 tracks all done and dusted in 35 minutes with changes of pace at just the right moments. The slower pace tracks like "Swing Like A Monkey" or the relaxed reverie of "Medway Sun" sit perfectly against the high energy tracks like "Wigmore Swingers", "Billy Mason", "My Grandad Jim" or the title track "Nobody Knows". Indeed, the title track is almost an object lesson on how to start an album - the click of drum sticks counting in, and then BANG! and we're off.
In another nod the days gone by, the album was recorded entirely on analogue tape, and to quote guitarist/singer Glen Page:
"When we recorded this I wanted it to be a bit like the sound I remember getting when I was in my first band, aged about 16 and we would record ourselves playing with a cassette recorder. I wanted to recapture the excitement, energy and roughness of us trying to be like Jimi Hendrix."
And I think that is what has been achieved - even to the point where after 6/7 tracks you feel the need to rise from your seat and turn the album over for Side 2
(or maybe thats just me being an old fart?)
The closing track "The London Institute" is a relentless track, slowly building from guitar/vocal introduction and bursting into full glory, with a psychedelic/freak-out explosion in the middle. An epic finish to a truly blistering album.
For a track-by-track guide "straight from the horses mouth" (ie Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Glenn Page), fly over to the Retroman Blog and have a gander:
Len Price 3 - My Grandad Jim
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