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The Good China
Reviews
ROCK
(Courier Mail)
Icecream Hands
The Good China
(Dust Devil Music/Stomp)
WHERE did that five years go? That's how long since Melbourne's Icecream
Hands dropped the last of their pop-rock pearls in Broken UFO.
The time since has been spent in solo projects and raising families, but
The Good China finds them with spirit refreshed and melodic instincts as
finely honed as ever. While I'm sure they never sat down and planned this,
they have the template which has made so many bands great: vocal and
instrumental variety, an embarrassment of writing riches, an all-for-one
mentality that puts the power of the song ahead of personal ego.
When songwriters are competing for space, only the cream makes the cut.
Well, it worked for The Beatles, The Byrds, The
Band and The Beach Boys, right?
Although they have a loyal fan base and even an ARIA nomination to their
credit Icecream Hands have never broken through
to the commercial mainstream.
Yet albums such as Memory Lane Traffic Jam and Sweeter than the Radio
retains more resonance and pop thrills than many bands in the past 15
years. Exactly why they have not yet found that wider audience is not easy
to understand, yet they aren't alone in that.
Charles Jenkins is the band's most instantly recognizable voice and
songwriter, but he's ably assisted in that department by guitarist Marcus
Goodwin and bassist Douglas Lee Robertson, plus drummer Derek Smiley the
force of nature behind the kit that all great bands need also has a
co-writing credit.
Opening number Come Along finds Goodwin and Robertson co-writing the kind
of harmony-charged guitar-pop tune that never goes out of style, and
Robertson's Anyway sounds like an old friend even the first time through,
melody swelling up while the chord sequence descends.
Goodwin's Holding On is a Beatle-esque piano
number that Jet and most rock bands worth their salt, frankly would covet
deeply. And Jenkins offers up one treasure after another: the inexorable
throb of In the Back Seat of a Stolen Car ("Last night I cried myself
to sleep in the back seat of a stolen car"), the novel-in-a-song of
Launceston ("She took me home once to Launceston"), the aching
memories of My Mother was a Dancer (with Brian Wilson harmonies that can
bring a tear to the eye). Another cracking Icecream
Hands album, yet more indisputable proof that pop music need not be
shallow, disposable or dumb.
If you love melodic rock 'n' roll with heart, soul and a brain, don't miss
this.
--Noel Mengel
Icecream Hands The Good China
Inpress - Wednesday 30 May, 2007
It's been five years since Broken UFO, Icecream
Hands' last long player, and the world has changed a great deal. Pink is
the new black, the rock revival is on its last legs and pop music has
fallen further into disrepute. After five years, one has to wonder whether Icecream Hands still stack up after such a long break,
let alone the battle against the changing times?
Any doubt about this is waylaid with album opener Come Along, which is
arguably the best song Icecream Hands have ever
written; a Beach Boys-era romp complete with references: "Sail away
with me/On the sloop 'John B.' In a time where you can hear bands like Silverchair trying as hard as they can to reproduce
this golden era of pop, Icecream Hands simply do
it, convincingly and unforced.
Second track In The Back Seat Of A Stolen Car taps into the rock roots of
the band and is amongst the hardest driving songs of their career. The
experimental, distortion-rich bridge of the song is something that would be
more expected from Bluebottle Kiss, which is indicative of the
throwing-it-all-at-the-wall approach to the album as it jumps between
classic sounding pop, to rock, to piano balladry (Holding On) and psychedelia (Launceston).
It you were slightly worried about where Icecream
Hands fit in a world of synths, saccharine
sounding production, you shouldn't be. Good China is a magnificent album
that is one-half retrospective, as heard in Come Along, Launceston and the
sing-along of Everything You Are, and one-half forward facing, with the
rockers In The Back Seat Of A Stolen Car and Say That You Want Me Some More
revealing a side of the band that sounded suppressed on Broken UFO.
Good China
is more than a reminder that Icecream Hands are a
great band, it is proof that they still are pop
wizards worth of the comparisons to untouchables like Crowded House. More
importantly, Good China seems to suggest that the best for Icecream Hands is not in the back catalogue, but
delightfully, is still waiting to be heard.
--Justin Pearsall
Icecream Hands The Good China
Beat - Wednesday 30 May, 2007
One of the few things in life you can rely upon is that each Icecream Hands release will be brimming with top-notch
melodic indie pop. The Good China, the band's fifth studio album, is so
listenable that you won't want to remove it from your stereo.
The bright Byrdsian sparkle of opening track Come
Along has become an addiction for me as I can't resist replaying it over
and over. The glorious vocal harmonies, tight rhythm, nostalgic
glockenspiel and majestic, chiming guitars are central ingredients of this
shimmering gem.
If you fancy harder-edged guitar action, check out In The Back Seat Of A
Stolen Car and Say That You Want Me Some More. The moody Holding On is
almost Beatlesesque and features a soaring,
yearning guitar solo. The summery Anyway has some of the finest vocal
harmonies that the Icecream Hands have committed
to disc. Charles Jenkins again demonstrates his prodigious songwriting skills to full effect in the evocative
Launceston, in which he tells a story of love and loss economically yet
with much warmth and personality. The vocal harmonies and thoughtful piano
that bring the track to a close will send a shiver down your spine.
Everything You Are has that great edgy 60s tinged feel
that The Smithereeens were known for back in the
late 80s. Weak At The Knees, rippling with metaphor, is a lyrical
tour-de-force. When the band rises to a dramatic sustained crescendo about
three minutes into the song, you know that you are in the presence of
masterful musicianship. It's hard to avoid singing along to the touching,
yet buoyant This Is What I Want in which Marcus Goodwin shows how much of a
romantic soul he is.
The classic pop of Everyone's Waiting exudes so much melody it really
deserves to be heard cascading from a radio perched on a towel on a sun
kissed beach. Album closer My Mother Was A Dancer provides further evidence
of Jenkins's storytelling credentials.
With The Good China, the Icecream Hands have once
again proven themselves to be one of Australia's finest bands.
--Graham Blackley
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