3 Colours Red - Revolt

Crikey, I’ve only gone and bought a 3CR album. Things I do in the interest of research for this zine. Nah, I mean, they were a band that just didn’t impress overly in their earlier days. Numerous support slots and songs that I recognised, but that something was missing. Last time I saw them, just before Xmas, it was better. Maybe it clicked for me. So I thought I’d give the new album a try.

The two singles that have preceded the album kinda sum things up. Paralyse is the up in your face punchy number, complete with it’s Almighty style chorus. Beautiful Day is the mellow introspective side. And those are the elements that run through this. Which makes it sound a bit, er, two dimensional, but that’s still one more dimension than one dimension bands. And is also probably reflective of my still being a new potential convert rather than a rabid fan of this band.

Anyway, Priouette, is quite possibly the best song on the album in my opinion, and along with This Is My Time, errs on the Beautiful Day side of things. More laid back, melancholic. Cancel The Exhibition goes for the power pop approach again as does Intermission, which carries it off nicely.

Song For The Radio is a bit of a corker to be honest, as is some other stuff. Paranoid People kinda exists, and why is everyone using Paranoid in a song title these days? There’s only one band that can get away with it, Sabbath of course.

Not bad, but like so much, it looses my interest towards the end with tracks like Be Myself, and Age of Madness. It’s almost like it’s harking back to those good old vinyl days when bands seemed to make great A sides and absolutely shite B sides. But is it better than the first album? No idea, cos I still don’t own that one!

Oh, and there’s the video for Beautiful Day on the CD. But as a word to anybody creating these CD Rom things and screensavers. I DO NOT appreciate CDs that automatically install their components on my machine without asking me. That’s a no no. From whoever. Even if certain companies have built their reputation on it. Manners apply to computers as well. Ask before you make yourself at home.

Available on Creation Records