kleph
21-02-2006, 02:26 PM
I've met only a handful of people who even know this record existed but each and every one has been as devoted to it as I am. This record has been a constant companion for more than 17 years and I still love listening to it as much as when I first bought it.
Newcastle singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon built a strange niche in the early 1980s with what the Trouser Press describes as "smart and sophisticated garden-pop-jazz." But for some reason, no matter how close to the heart of the matter it gets, that definition falls strangely short. There is something else going on in the core of the songwriting that owes a lot to Memphis blue-eyed soul that catches your fancy as much as The Rightous Brothers caught your parent's.
Then there is Two Wheels Good where McAloon raises the stakes and you never realize it because the result is so seamlessly wonderful. It was one of the first records I bought on the basis of a music review and one of the few times that it paid off. It's a paradox in many ways - a lush melodic daydream that has it's feet firmly on the ground, a lament for love gone bad and a romanticism that somehow things can work out, a soulful pop masterpiece produced by the king of 80s quirkiness, Thomas Dolby.
But, somehow, it all works. The gorgeous harmonies entrance you then drift away like the wasted loves being sung about. The guitar work is brilliantly interesting and complex but not overstated. The lyrics twist and have a sharpness that you wouldn't expect from the gorgeous arrangements of the songs themselves. On first listen you might take it for the cotton candy of garden pop but McAloon has used that to get under your skin, into your heat and, eventually, to come to rest in your heart.
"Faron" starts the proceedings with a rollicking start but McAloon isn't interested in racing heartbeats, he's got the messy aftermaths to address. "Horsin' Around" is a wonderful paeon to a rake that covers its spitting irony in a warm melodic shawl. "Desire As" may be the closest the album comes to a soulful romantic hit but it is much to knowing to be a love song.
"Goodbye Lucille #1" is a sad knowing reflection that almost screams it's melancholy and the guitar plucks its way across your hearing in the same way the lyrics pluck across your own memories. There is something about this song that is simply timeless in my mind.
The band is probably best known for some of their more eclectic dance beat songs but this record is a complete artistic vision. It always frustrated me as a DJ because the songs don't have the same power when played alone. This album provided my rule about great albums - you don't know the names of the songs because you can't help but listen to it all the way through.
And it gets such a high placement because of the powerful associations it holds for me. I really got into the record when I went overseas to Italy for two months after high school and it became the soundtrack of that strange bewitching time. Interestingly, I discovered it was named Two Wheels Good in the States but in Europe the title was Steve McQueen. When I got back I would bike for hours in the misty Louisiana mornings listening to this album before I went off to college.
Newcastle singer/songwriter Paddy McAloon built a strange niche in the early 1980s with what the Trouser Press describes as "smart and sophisticated garden-pop-jazz." But for some reason, no matter how close to the heart of the matter it gets, that definition falls strangely short. There is something else going on in the core of the songwriting that owes a lot to Memphis blue-eyed soul that catches your fancy as much as The Rightous Brothers caught your parent's.
Then there is Two Wheels Good where McAloon raises the stakes and you never realize it because the result is so seamlessly wonderful. It was one of the first records I bought on the basis of a music review and one of the few times that it paid off. It's a paradox in many ways - a lush melodic daydream that has it's feet firmly on the ground, a lament for love gone bad and a romanticism that somehow things can work out, a soulful pop masterpiece produced by the king of 80s quirkiness, Thomas Dolby.
But, somehow, it all works. The gorgeous harmonies entrance you then drift away like the wasted loves being sung about. The guitar work is brilliantly interesting and complex but not overstated. The lyrics twist and have a sharpness that you wouldn't expect from the gorgeous arrangements of the songs themselves. On first listen you might take it for the cotton candy of garden pop but McAloon has used that to get under your skin, into your heat and, eventually, to come to rest in your heart.
"Faron" starts the proceedings with a rollicking start but McAloon isn't interested in racing heartbeats, he's got the messy aftermaths to address. "Horsin' Around" is a wonderful paeon to a rake that covers its spitting irony in a warm melodic shawl. "Desire As" may be the closest the album comes to a soulful romantic hit but it is much to knowing to be a love song.
"Goodbye Lucille #1" is a sad knowing reflection that almost screams it's melancholy and the guitar plucks its way across your hearing in the same way the lyrics pluck across your own memories. There is something about this song that is simply timeless in my mind.
The band is probably best known for some of their more eclectic dance beat songs but this record is a complete artistic vision. It always frustrated me as a DJ because the songs don't have the same power when played alone. This album provided my rule about great albums - you don't know the names of the songs because you can't help but listen to it all the way through.
And it gets such a high placement because of the powerful associations it holds for me. I really got into the record when I went overseas to Italy for two months after high school and it became the soundtrack of that strange bewitching time. Interestingly, I discovered it was named Two Wheels Good in the States but in Europe the title was Steve McQueen. When I got back I would bike for hours in the misty Louisiana mornings listening to this album before I went off to college.