My first impression of this album was the bold statement to just have a white sleeve with a blue border and JTQ – Hung Up On You in the top corner but looking through the band’s previous offerings its perfectly normal and in keeping with their tradition for minimalist artwork. No Picture, artwork, label nada, zilch, nuffink. So without any misconceptions, I crack open the sleeve and put the crisp white platter on the turntable and let the title track fill the air and to be fair having a clean palette might be a smart move because the title track is a wicked slice of garage rock. It’s got groove and a nice edge to it. Then the first single off the album the 60s-tinged psych rocker with a big hook ‘She Dreams In Crimson’ wafts through the speakers before the funky instrumental ‘Chicken Legs’ gets groovy baby and fills the dancefloor with the honkin’ organ whirling around over some funky loose drum fills.  

The next track that really grabs my retro attention is the uptempo ‘Miss Your Life’ which is the best track thus far and side one is brought to a rocking end with ‘Perch Non Vsi Da Lui’ and a really good rocker with a cool retro vibe and who doesn’t love a breakdown where the drums hold a steady beat and we chase the keyboard off into the end of the first act, good stuff.

Side two begins with a generous helping of garage rock with a great melody and hook as you’re told to ‘Put Your Hands Up’. An album full of Medway-style punky/new wave Rock’n’Roll, ‘Hung Up On You’ is a fast and furious roller coaster of a record that touches on a whole load of groovy styles. Since covid James has been working again, writing and playing, for his original band from the 80’s, The Prisoners and making albums of late with Billy Childish. “The track (Hung Up On You) was left over from a writing session for my his other band ‘The Prisoners’The band are traditionally from a funk background but you’d never tell and when they say they had a lot of fun in the studio you can hear that in the recordings throughout as they challenge themselves and deliver a really impressive album sure I could live without a couple of instrumentals but when they kick back and rock ou they really hit the spot ‘My My My’ could easily be prime time Townsend jamming on the Stones and that’s always a good thing.

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Author: Dom Daley