Dom Daley.

 

Always a bonus to make it onto one of the planets coolest labels means that you must be doing something right.  Right? Right!  working with the Muffs and Little Steven and getting the queen of rock Debbie Harry to sing on your record makes your music pretty desirable in my book and on ‘Come Spy With Me’ she works her way through a bazzilion genres from Gospel bubblegum vocals with trashy guitar licks ‘I’m Satisfied’ through power pop and punk rock and surf there has to be something in here for every conceivable taste and the bottom line is the songs are terrific,  Exceptionally played and delivered.  There are guest appearances from the likes of Debby Harry, Steve Van Zandt, Genya Raven, Members of the Pogues, Plimsoles, The Fuzztones and of course Paul Collins.  Now if your looking for a good reason to investigate this slab of power pop then surely I’ve just given you half a dozen, haven’t I?

Look at the artwork and whos on it and then the song titles and it’s not difficult to see where this little ray of sunshine is heading.  From the Swirling Keyboards on ‘Walk Away’ to the more punchy ‘I Thought You Were Going To Kill Yourself’ to the Shangri la of ‘Tragedy Ann’ Hell there’s even time for the one and only Handsome Dick Manitoba to make an appearance on ‘Ballad Of Madface And The Baby’.

Spread out over twelve songs I love this record it’s easy listening of the finest order and there are songs for every mood and every occasion – to pick a favorite is nigh on impossible but I do love the Handsome dick tune and possibly the Happy birthday one with Debbie Harry on wait…its like Palmyra has managed to graft a small piece of each artists DNA into the music yet create something that doesn’t scream each either which is really clever and skillful.  Wait, ‘Kill Yourself’ is probably my favourite and that doesn’t have any special guests on it so maybe it doesn’t really matter because the bottom line is this album is great and my advice is to go investigate.

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