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1995
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Boneidle
1996
January
Raw
April
The War
Against
Silence
June
BoneIdle |
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The War Against Silence
April 1996
We Know Where You
Live is the resurfacing of three fifths of the
Wonder Stuff (minus magnetic frontman Miles Hunt
and impish violinist Martin Bell) with the
addition of new vocalist (I presume that's him
singing, anyway) Ange Dolittle. "Don't Be Too
Honest", the lead track, is a dark, bruising,
bass-heavy workout that, except for the catchy
"too too too" bits in the chorus and the
half-rap bridge in the middle, doesn't sound
entirely unlike Stone Temple Pilots. The third
track, a demo called "Excuse Me?", is a storming
thing whose guitar riff reminds me distinctly of
Jane's Addiction. Lest there be doubt here, I do
not like Stone Temple Pilots or Jane's
Addiction, so these resemblances are not exactly
welcome.
I'm a lot more
intrigued by the song in the middle, though, a
very Wonder Stuffian acoustic version of a song
called "Confessions of a Thug", with a gorgeous
melody, airy harmony, sparkling guitar,
shuffling drums and a healthy dose of sneering
cynicism. If I were advising this bunch, I'd
encourage them to stick to acoustic versions of
everything, and think about getting another
violinist, too. I didn't think the Wonder Stuff
exhausted the potential of their "Caught in My
Shadow" folk-acoustic stage, and I'm still
hoping somebody will go back and finish
exploring it.
Glenn Macdonald |
