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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThey say that in life first impressions are everything, and when it comes to Oslo five-piece Gluecifer, for yours truly, that was most certainly the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I first encountered Gluecifer around a quarter of century ago, initially through a Rockpalast performance on (German TV channel) WDR early one Sunday morning after a night out in Abertillery Rock City. I was completely blown away by what I witnessed, not only by their rather unique take on the garage punk genre but also by the suave stylings of the band\u2019s members, especially the ultracool onstage persona of singer Biff Malibu. I mean anyone who can wear white loafers and a red velour bowling shirt whilst ridiculing Joey DeMaio\u2019s inability to drink a (piss weak) tin of beer is already a winner in life, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having quickly taped this performance onto VHS for all my mates to see I then quickly invested in a copy of the band\u2019s \u2018Soaring With Eagles At Night To Rise With The Pigs In The Morning\u2019 album and loved every second of it. Then, just a few short months later, me and my (pre) uber rockin\u2019 amigo Gaz Tidey found ourselves stood stage front and centre watching the band live as they hit Newport\u2019s Legendary TJ\u2019s venue. This time around the guys were out on the road with Gaza Strippers promoting their then-new album \u2018Tender Is The Savage\u2019, and if they\u2019d blown us away on TV playing live, nothing was about to prepare us for what they were like in the flesh. So, when drummer Danny Young decided that playing a gig in a fibreglass (pretend) cave somewhere in south Wales was also the best time to wear arseless leather trousers whilst at the climax of their set the guys also took a step back (they couldn\u2019t take any more than that as they\u2019d have been off the back of the stage) and unleashed an indoor firework display that must have set them back at least \u00a33.50 of the tour budget, we fully understood why Gluecifer, really are the undisputed Kings of Rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following on from that most eventful night, I went to see the band pretty much every time they toured the UK, and unlike some of my fellow Gluecifer fans who I have got to know through the years, I also thought they progressed as songwriters with each subsequent studio album they released, until in 2005 following the tour in promotion of their \u2018Automatic Thrill\u2019 album, they rather unexpectedly (to me at least) decided to call it a day. The world of rock was left with a giant Gluecifer shaped hole, something that not even the arrival of Bloodlights (guitarist Captain Poon\u2019s excellent post Gluecifer band) could ever truly fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A posthumous Gluecifer compilation album \u2018Kings Of Rock (B-Sides And Rarities)\u2019 was released by Epic\/People Like You back in 2008 and this is where the genesis of the idea behind the album I\u2019m about to (finally) get around to reviewing first saw the light of day. That album (in their Norwegian homeland at least) took one album packed full of \u201chits\u201d as its main selling point, then added a second album of deep cuts, whilst everywhere else in Europe it was that 16 track second album (with an added \u2018Desolate City\u2019 from LP number one) that hit the record shops as a standalone release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here in 2024 that rarities album has been expanded to a 24 track double LP\/download, taking 14 of the tracks from the 2008 release and adding 10 new ones to the track listing, including some recorded during the sessions around the \u2018Tender Is The Savage\u2019 and \u2018Basement Apes\u2019 albums that have never previously been released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n