TV21 -‘Forever 22’ (Powbeat Records)
It’s been well-documented how long some bands have taken to make records. It took The Stone Roses five years to follow up their eponymous debut with The Second Coming. In a twenty-five year career, The Blue Nile have made only four albums. To date, Mary Margaret O’Hara has made only one album.
Whether TV21 should be added to this list or not is perhaps a moot point. After all, it has been twenty eight years since their debut A Thin Red Line. Then again, the band split up in 1982, the day after they supported the Rolling Stones at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. They reformed for a John Peel memorial gig in 2005 and have been gigging ever since, with three of the four original members (the newcomer on the drumseat is Simon McGlynn).
So…having been playing live over the last four years, the band release their second album. Is it any good? In a word, yes. Put this way, since it arrived earlier in the week, I’ve played it at least four times, twice of which were today. Back to back. That’s a vote of confidence, I think.
It’s an album of two halves, eleven new tracks and eight tracks from the first part of their career. It doesn’t re-write the rulebook, but it doesn’t set out. It’s just a hugely entertaining album, with great songs. These actually seem to work well back to back. As the repeated plays might suggest, I find it rather addictive. And there’s many bands from today who would benefit from listening to this lean, well-oiled machine before feeling the need to go completely OTT. ‘Too Late For me Now’ ‘Look To the Sun’ and the title track particularly strong songs that more than hold their own with many of the younger generation. ‘Through Different Eyes’ suggests that both they and Franz Ferdinand have been borrowing from each other.
I’ve only heard bits of their stuff in the past, so I’m not in a position to compare them to how they were the first time around. I am convinced, though, that this set is strong enough to win them new fans.
Welcome back, folks.
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TV 21’s Myspace (five of the songs can be streamed here)
The album is available on CD now, from Avalanche Edinburgh or here