dimanche, septembre 03, 2006
The 25th of May
"What's Going On"
album: Lenin & McCarthy
Arista, 1992 [out of print]
The 25th of May were another in a long string of cool Brit dance-rock groups that appeared in record bins in those days before grunge effectively killed the genre, Following the footsteps of Pop Will Eat Itself, Happy Mondays, Carter U.S.M, or Happyhead, the 25th of May were based in Liverpool and led by the frontman Steve Swindelli.
"What's Going On" started off with a sample from The Terminator ("there's a storm coming in") and quickly established a syncopated piano rhythm alternating with guitar power chords on the chorus. Lyrically, the song was an ecstacy-fueled hippy political anthem, spouting lines like "you got to ride the storm, man/kick some doors in/take a fall, but never get used" (appropriately, my copy is autographed by Swindelli and amply decorated by him with peace and anarchy signs).
Six of the album's tracks (including this one) was co-produced by Marius de Vries in one of his early production projects, long before his notable work with David Gray, Rufus Wainwright, and others.
Swindelli later tried again five years later with the group Manbreak, yet another band which succumbed to obscurity after only one album. By the end of the decade, he apparently also recorded dance music under the name Omaha. Lately, I've heard tell that he was doing musical theater in ther U.K.
album: Lenin & McCarthy
Arista, 1992 [out of print]
The 25th of May were another in a long string of cool Brit dance-rock groups that appeared in record bins in those days before grunge effectively killed the genre, Following the footsteps of Pop Will Eat Itself, Happy Mondays, Carter U.S.M, or Happyhead, the 25th of May were based in Liverpool and led by the frontman Steve Swindelli.
"What's Going On" started off with a sample from The Terminator ("there's a storm coming in") and quickly established a syncopated piano rhythm alternating with guitar power chords on the chorus. Lyrically, the song was an ecstacy-fueled hippy political anthem, spouting lines like "you got to ride the storm, man/kick some doors in/take a fall, but never get used" (appropriately, my copy is autographed by Swindelli and amply decorated by him with peace and anarchy signs).
Six of the album's tracks (including this one) was co-produced by Marius de Vries in one of his early production projects, long before his notable work with David Gray, Rufus Wainwright, and others.
Swindelli later tried again five years later with the group Manbreak, yet another band which succumbed to obscurity after only one album. By the end of the decade, he apparently also recorded dance music under the name Omaha. Lately, I've heard tell that he was doing musical theater in ther U.K.
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permanent link posted @ 9/03/2006 09:53:00 p.m. 
