Album Review

Product Recall – Liquor In The Front, Poker Round The Back

• 2nd Aug 2009

The amazing thing about punk rock is that for years bands have tried to emulate the sounds and vibes created by the classic examples of the genre, whilst all the time failing to realize that those original bands never had a plan so to speak, it was music created from a struggle, a fight where the participants grabbed any weapon to hand and fought for something they believed in.
It’s this for this reason then that bands fall short of achieving that feel: it’s not in the equipment they use, the effects or the money thrown at it-it’s something in between the lines; something Product recall have produced with Liquor in the front, poker round the back. by simply playing what they wanted and letting that come across on the record.

The beer flying in the air opening ‘Not your song’ that carves its own niche in the dance floor, but very quickly Product Recall add interesting twists to the punk remit, ‘Brain machine’ is wandering round the Seattle grunge sound like a vagrant wanting a fight, it could have been a Nirvana B-side and no-one would have battered and eyelid.

There’s that melancholic madness that Therapy? purported here, started by ‘Brain machine’ and continued throughout, that frustration to the point of in articulation. It creates a brooding, murky undercurrent that sits behind the more commercial aspect of Product Recall’s music like a schizophrenic alter-ego.

There’s just enough progression here that it draws the listener in but doesn’t alienate them and feel by design-even if it is- and highlights the diversity of ideas and their subtle implementation.

Some songs could easily be the bridge between Nirvana and the Foo fighters and it’s an interesting place to come from ‘Smug you are’ hits right in the middle of that whole sound, and still Product Recall maintain their own character, even under the crushing weight of comparison.

‘Fuck, fuck I’ve got a mental’ just reinforces all the previous ideas, and you could honestly play it off as an unreleased Cobain effort, which should be seen as high praise-Kurt worked exceptionally hard at the sound he produced, despite it sounding like it would fall apart at any moment, it was carefully constructed. Product Recall has a similar-this could come apart at the seams, but it won’t stop us beating the life out of the tune-mentality.

You shouldn’t hold on too tightly to the comparisons made here, more use them as introductory handshakes to Product Recall.
Perhaps one of the most extreme examples of PR’s reach is in hidden track ‘Dead quiet’ which deals with an unsettlingly, dark topic with a maturity and invention that frankly it should be a direction that they may want to consider looking into.

With all this comparison and exploration Product Recall could have become serious, in danger of becoming self absorbed-too considered, so it’s just as well then that when they throw their rendition of ‘Twinkle, twinkle’ into the mix, and it’s a version that whilst holding it’s tongue in cheek nicely, also sticks it’s tongue out at its own earnest efforts in a glorious as graffiti salute to punk.