Customer Reviews

Daddy's Highway

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like the Feelies, you ought to give this a whirl. I bought this when it first came out and I've always loved it. Simple, direct, this record has a kind of small town charm that almost speaks more to a folk sensibility than to alt-rock. No member of this band is a great musician, which is kind of the point, and definitely something that's used to advantage. The bass player is chattily busy, the guitars are chimey & understated, the drummer is a little bit surfy but has a groove recognizeably his own, and the vocals are rendered in an unmodulated, everyman style. You can picture Robin in his plaid shirt and glasses, earnest but mild mannered, delivering these songs with a shrug and a smile from stage right in some little Christchurch pub. And what songs they are -- some of these have never left my head in the ten years I've had this record.

As with any release from The Bats, "Daddy's Highway" has more than a handfull of infectious tunes that you will catch yourself humming for the rest of the day. "Treason", "Round And Down", "North By North" and "Made Up In Blue" especially stick in the mind.

For a twelve-year-old album, it still wears well and easily surpasses the offerings of many new bands. It isn't my favorite Bats release, but it is filled with enough tantalizing selections to keep you humming until you finally break down and buy another release from this group.

This is one of the best late '80s indiepop albums ever made.

The Bats, Daddy's Highway, is a classic New Zealand album. One of the first full length from Kiwi Rock Icon Label Flying Nun, but not only that, an album which 23 years after the effect, still sounds fresh and vital. The Bats are a band which is unique, they've never changed the lineup, the newest songs sound exactly like the earliest songs, i.e. Bats songs. Bats songs are Bats songs, they dont sound like anyone else but plenty of bands sound like the Bats. If you haven't guessed yet, I'm a fan, but I'm a music fan and not parochial but a lover of great jangle pop. If you love Dream syndicate, Paisley Underground, The Jam, Echo & the Bunnymen then take a close look at the lo-Fi Bats from Christchurch New Zealand. robert Scott ex Clean is the man but the true star is Paul Kean who plays melodic bass and sings harmony and Kaye Woodward who plays guitar and sings harmony. Sometimes the Scott, Woodward harmony is almost breathtaking and the guitar attack with Kaye's rhythm and Robert's lead is brilliantly simple and fantastic. sonngs for grownups. If this review sounds generic well thats because it is but irrelevently, every album is a classic, and they are an album band, classic.

I'd never heard the Bats until I was browsing through their entry in Musichound and thought I might like them. While there are no dogs on this CD, there isn't much diversity either. The vocals are not irritating but not interesting or standout. I wish there had been a couple of tracks where the girl sang lead. The musicianship is solid but doesn't catch your ear. This group probably sounds best in a multi-artist compilation, since their strong point is the consistent catchiness of the melodies. Listening to it front to back gets a bit old.