scans.
AYE, THERE'S THE RUBBISH
Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Are You Normal?
(sony)
Sorry to wake you but this is f***ing hard to take. Arsewipes, right?
Crusty traitors scrubbed behind the ears for mass consumption. Moshprats.
Yawno bleedin' skatenicks. Wonder Stuff wannabes. Puppyprat pogonerds
destined to wind up driving minicabs. Dorks banging out Carter-by-numbers
to put tee-shirts on the backs of saddo fashion victims. Chancer dullard
rockers. The Enemy. Right?
WRONG! Look, this comes as much of a shock to me as it will to you
but Ned's Atomic Dustbin have stumped up with an album that most anyone
would be proud of. Okay, so the title stinks - reminds me of those "You
Don't Have To Be Mad To Work Here…" signs you always see in greasy spoons
- but if you allow that and the rest of the prejudices you cart around
deter you from hearing this record, you're more pathetic than you think
this band are. "Are You Normal" is pretty much everything an album should
be. It has attitude, passion, pain that's a pleasure to share and, most
surprisingly of all, it is inventive, articulate and NOTHING WHATSOEVER
like what everyone I know thinks Ned's Atomic Dustbin sound like.
What the hell happened? Well, yeah, okay, it's right-time-right-place.
Most sentient beings have had it up to here with Yank grungecore and
something, ANYTHING, English and vibrant is bound to elicit a sympathetic
listen. But beyond that, "Are You Normal" is really a right little blinder.
I'm amazed. I mean, you'll not hear a more honest song all year than
the single, "Not Sleeping Around". "You keep saying I'm tired of you
but I'm just tired" wraps up those weary communication breakdowns that
fester into kitchen sink dramas with admirable honesty. The same clear-eyed
disillusion fuels the fabulous "Who Goes First", singer Jonn bluntly
stating "You'll turn against her/You will turn…" to a tune Miles Hunt
would kill for. Then again, "Intact" sounds as bittersweet as anything
Robert Smith has concocted on days when he's wearing his brightest pop
head. And again, "Walking Through Syrup" manages to use peer-pressurised
drug-taking as a warped metaphor for sexual stereotyping. Hey, these
boys are angry. Angry and good.
There is a very dark side to the Neds, a worldweariness quite scary
for ones so young and quite the opposite of the daft image they portray.
They're under the cosh and squirming with the rest of us. And they're
smart enough to know that the blame starts at home. None of these songs
are smug the way Carter are. There are no baddies and goodies, no saints
and sinners for the convenience of badge-wearers or flag wavers. Neds
are bloody hard on themselves. "Legoland" for instance, is an appallingly
real peek into the diary of someone too scared to leave a relationship
that still exists solely out of habit. The way it sounds, someone in
this band is facing facts the coward in him would much rather ignore.
If this all sounds too much, too grim, take it from me, it's not. Producer
Andy Wallace, who engineered Nirvana's "Nevermind", has done a splendid
job allowing the band's personality to infuse every song with it's own
distinct atmosphere. There are fun samples (Dennis Hopper's "he was
a wise man" etc from "Apocalypse Now") Some crafty arrangements ("Spring"
begins like a bossa nova then busts out) and some truly killer choruses.
"Syrup", "Who Goes First", "Suave & Suffocated" all could and should
be hits. In fact, the whole album is really ridiculously infectious.
I should hear it if I were you. It's great. Honest.
STEVE SUTHERLAND