Customer Reviews

The London Quireboys (CD) A Bit of What You Fancy

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

 

 

If it's true imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, "A Bit of What You Fancy" finds The London Quireboys practically down on their knees fellating the Stones, Faces, Mott the Hoople, and various members of Slade, Humble Pie, and the Spiders from Mars. Then, despite all the sweaty effort, everything gets half-inched by the Black Crowes anyway, the brothers Robinson unceremoniously stealing their thunder and leaving them choking on the afterburn.

It's hard to believe these guys allegedly turfed Wildhearts front man Ginger from the fold for excessive sozzling, snorting, and generally fulfilling all requirements of the job description because this album is a party waiting to happen, the best night of your life, the last day of school, getting your cherry popped, and winning the lottery all wrapped up into one tidy package, time warped in the early 1970's and blissfully unconcerned with anything outside of magical raunch chords, nasty thoughts, and haystack haircuts.

It's easy, lazy, and unimaginative to play spot the influences on "A Bit of What You Fancy," but it's also inevitable, especially when Chris Johnstone's jangle-jump piano references Ian McLagan to kick start album opener "7 O'Clock." The strep throat of Spot is a dead ringer for the rough-and-tumble of Rod Stewart circa 1971, "Sweet Mary Ann" and "Roses & Rings" sharing more than just a few of the rapidly deteriorating genetic strands of those early solo albums and owing a mighty debt to that hoary old classic rock staple "Maggie May." "Long Time Comin'" welds Mott's "The Golden Age of Rock & Roll" to "Stay With Me," the foot taps out of habit, and pfooot! you're history.

It's one thing to cop your favorite 70's act and then present it as a pastel copy, but it takes skill to make it sound like a whiff of fresh air and the Quireboys shovel it out as good as it ever gets on three songs which toe the line between slavish imitation and outright genius, managing to look down their noses on just about anything released during the wretched 90's without breaking a sweat. "Hey You," "Misled," and "There She Goes Again" are the nosh and tipple of The Faces done to damn near perfection, nothing shockingly original but delivered with enough enthusiasm, verve, vigor, and hooky swagger to leave you wondering how you've done without it for this long.

And then they were gone...

I couldn't praise this album enough. If you're a fan of The Black Crowes, pick this one up. The style is similar to that and spike's voice has a resemblance to that of Rod Stewart somewhat.

My favorites from this album are 7 O' Clock (obviously), Man On The Loose, Hey You, Long Time Comin', and There She Goes Again. The entire album is brilliant...sleazy, bluesy rock n roll. You can't go wrong with this one. Fits just about every mood.

yeah if I had to survive on like ten albums for the rest of my life this one would be there. It seems to really fit all moods. Man you can take this to a house party and keep everybody dancing and grinding or just pop it in the car and take the girl out for a ride on some dark country road with the windows down and the warm air blowing in. Every song on this thing should have been a number 1 hit in the US but well top 40 radio was never accused of being high quality. This album will make you smile when you realize you didn't have to pay a million bucks for suck a joyous thing. Did I say I liked this album!

The Quireboys (as they are generally referred to) originally spelled their name more conventionally until the Australian band named The Choirboys objected - hence the funny spelling of the name. Anyway, that's part one of our history lesson. Part two is that these guys came outta the blocks at around the same time that a few other bands also seeped out of the woodwork with a similar 60's/70's schtick and ultimately only one was afforded any real critical and commercial stature - The Black Crowes.

All that aside the Quireboys worked their subtle and ultimately fairly minimal charms to perhaps their maximum potential here on their debut, led by lead vocalist `Spike' and his Rod `the mod' Stewart raspy inflections leading this album rather merrily and quite contentedly down a sort of honky tonk hard rock amalgam of a road where, for the indulgent listener, there is a fine enough toe tappin' album to sling into your stereo for when they are mentally busy with something else (like writing reviews perhaps?). The instrumentation is quite upbeat, the arrangements free and open and very much in love the simple tales being told.

With a production job that doesn't seem to have aged badly - at least to these ears - and a mission statement that is plain and honest this album would be worth a look for anybody who loved The Black Crowes and others of their ilk and even, to tell the truth, fans of Status Quo or any other boogie rock groups from the last.... oh three or four decades and given the price one can acquire this thing for you can afford to take the gamble.

But I stand by my three stars due to the limitations of the sub genre being addressed, the very average way it's mostly delivered and the lack of any overt reason to be. Which perhaps explains why so much of what media attention these guys achieved was centred around whether they or the Wildhearts were the heaviest partying band in London in the first couple of years of the 1990's.

This album is excellent from the first song to the last. If you enjoy the black crowes, then you will enjoy this album. The sound is awesome, and the lead singers voice is one-of-a-kind. Some songs tend to be raunchy in their subject matter, but the way the music is put together is awesome. I truely believe that if the Black Crowes had not exploded onto the music world in the way that they did, then this band very easily could have exploded in the same way. The sound is excellent.