++ALBUM++ review by Dave
Dave Taylor gets all frothy over the excellent New York punk of Stalkers' debut album.
I really wanted to dislike Stalkers. Reviews in the NME put me right off them, lumping these Brooklyn punks in with the likes of the Fratellis and Bay City Rollers. Further comparisons with The Sweet and Glitter Band did nothing to pique my interest further and when I stuck their debut album in the CD player for the first time, bad Louis XIV was what I was expecting.
"It's so far up my street, it's pretty much bought the end terrace. "
But you know what? 'Yesterday is No Tomorrow' is an awesome record. Best of the year so far perhaps. It's so far up my street, it's pretty much bought the end terrace. It's a glorious mix of The Real Kids, New York Dolls and recent(ish) US 70s punk revivalists The Richmond Sluts and The Exploding Hearts.
It is, let's not pretend otherwise, a party record. But it's worthy of the mother of all parties. A big messy drunken best night of your life party, where you smash things up but no one gets angry or hurt. Where you get off with the hot boy / girl everyone wants and you've had a crush on for months. Where every record is a rock n roll classic and everyone is jumping around, and the living room falls through to the flat downstairs, and the people who live there just laugh, covered in plaster, and pour whisky in their eyes and request the DJ plays 'Jetboy' and everyone starts jumping around and hugging them and shouting. That kind of thing.
Even the ballad 'I'm watching you' is decent - an over the top emotional-mess-makes-impassioned-plea kind of tune, the sort of melodramaramalama The Devil Dogs were experts at. It's fantastic stuff.
But the strength of the record is of course the balls out Friday night drinking tunes. 'Yesterday is no tomorrow' is a killer opening track, setting the agenda nicely. 'Let's Get It Together' is a fantastic one-of-the-gang singalong and 'Blame Game' is enough to keep even the most knackered party go-er dancing in the wee small hours when the speed has worn off. Best thing about this album, is that for all the miles per hour, there's enough strain in the voice, enough heart strings being tugged to give the songs depth and stop them being too bubblegum.
Full marks to One Little Indian for putting out yet another excellent album this year (after The Mighty Roars' Swine and Cockerel)
No party should be without it.
++ Dave ++
Artrocker rating: 5
