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The Blow Monkeys – Devil’s Tavern
2/5
Words: Matt Young
There are times when a press release can be an absolute Godsend to reviewers and now is one such occasion. You see I’m actually old enough to remember The Blow Monkeys during their famous period, when they trod the Top Of The Pops boards with Dr Robert miming to Digging Your Scene, when they battled it out for the cover of Smash Hits with other funk-dance purveyors of that time like ABC. But that was twenty years ago or more and to be honest the whole plastic soul/dance-sax-funk sound wasn’t on my radar back then. So eighteen years after they split what brings the four original members back?
Here’s where the press release comes in, as although Dr Robert (Bruce Robert Howard to his mum) and the boys have been busy during the intervening years writing, producing and playing, the urge to reconvene and play together in a room “without the machines taking over like in the bad old days of the 80s”. Plus, you could argue, that the re-emergence of 80s bands both prominent and best forgotten on various Greatest Hits tours, has the lads seeking their own bit of nostalgia grabbing wonga.
Can’t blame them for trying. There’s a Greatest Hits album out too, so you can see some confusion over that and this new material, which to be fair is pretty good but hardly interesting. The Bullet Train – first single released August 18th – is the best track by miles but even this feels kind of two dimensional when it could have been much more expansive and driving. The other tracks range from insipid asides like Save Me or the dated sax-heavy sounds of I Don’t Mind – the nadir however is a particularly trite moment listening to I Dream Of You.
Devil’s Tavern is self-produced and funded by fans, investing in the very idols they’ve supported since back in the day. They're getting what they want so you can only assume they’re happy and the band are getting off their backsides, which I suppose is a credit to them in the face of limited overall appeal. You can't help feeling it may all end in tears.
Released: 18.08.08
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