sound of the suburbs

Shoegazing is a form of music that I will readily confess to being fond of, the scene corresponded with a period where I was heavily involved in music and a such could consider my self to have been a player. Now I'm not going to pretend that I listen to this style of music everyday, regular readers will be aware that my musical tastes mirror my advancing years, though from time to time it gives me a lot of pleasure to dig out an old Boo Radley's track or give Catherine Wheel another spin. And so it was that a couple of weeks back that I dug out an old Chapterhouse 12", and was rapidly dragged in by it's charms. Now I would not consider myself as a big fan of the band, though I can remember at the time 'We Are The Beautiful' received some healthy airplay during my radio shows and for good reason just listen to it's big John Bonham style drum sound, It's addictive chorus with a touch of the orient in it's backing vocals, I'd say it deserved to have been a big hit! Now if this wasn't enough my 12" version contains two remixes 'Spooky's Ugly As Sin Mix' which to my ears is just that as it a rather tedious techno take on the song but 'We Are The Beautiful (Spooky's Extravaganja Dub Mix' is as we used to say in my youth, the business! For me this version rates along with the mighty Lazarus, a song so majestic that many others just fade in comparison, as one those songs to be listened to loud, a remix almost made to test your speakers. It's big warm dub base line and shimmering vocals really do sound like as if heaven is calling you in. A track to be consumed only by consenting adults, and be careful with your woofers!