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This is The Warlocks second album and they’ve apparently already
got through 19 band members and much bickering, imbibing and unhealthiness.
You wonder if it’s worth the bother before even listening
to ‘Surgery’. Not because of the trouble the band have
been through but because boasting about drug intake and subsequent
fallings-out is crushingly boring (see Doherty, and The Warlocks
press release).
Putting this irritation to one side (no easy task seeing as I’m
attempting to give up smoking for the umpteenth time), the album
begins with something utterly forgettable before offering up the
listenable Jesus and Mary Chain rip-off title track ‘It’s
Just Like Surgery’ which imaginatively compares the object
of the singer’s affections to a scalpel-wielding medical maniac.
‘Gypsy Nightmare’ is not a Daily Mail headline (though
it probably has been) but a rather derivative swim through mid-tempo
indie dirge-dom. For the record it seems to be about pulling his
girl’s best mate, who is some kind of goth (not surprising,
given that his girl is a scalpel-wielding medical maniac) and then
getting hammered and driving into a tree. We’ve all been there
mate.
‘Angels in Heaven, Angels in Hell’ is more JAMC, this
time doing 1950s doo-wop. It’s the kind of song that makes
you briefly want to be part of the band, as it’s clear they
have immense fun playing it. However, it is predictable rubbish
to listen to.
Bah! I’m still irritated. I don’t want to smoke though,
I want to stir up more trouble within The Warlocks so that they
permanently split up and stop inflicting tired old melodies drenched
in echoey guitar and down-a-well production. With 19 members and
ex-members maybe it’s a case of too many cooks. ‘Surgery’
is evidence that at the very least The Warlocks urgently need creative
implants.
words: Roger Hadwen
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