10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Stone Roses were not the first, November 22, 2000
This review is from: This Is Our Art (Audio CD)
1988, the year before everything happened in British music, before the Roses and the Carpets took the place of the smiths, Sean Dickson (vocals/guitars) and Jim McCulloch (guitar), both of whom had played in Scottish band BMX BANDITS, met up with Ross A. Sinclair (drums) and Sushil K. Dade to release the full-length debut album. The Dragons are known mostly for the Stones' "Free" cover, but this piece, as described by the Dragons themselves as `Useless, Boring, Impotent, Elitist and Very, Very, Beautiful' is an underrated, sweet sweet British masterpiece. This is there Art and that is how indie music should have sound in the end of the 80's. A year later, the Manchester Stone Roses did the same trick, and gave the world the baggy era with their epic debut. Don't believe someone has done it before, Check this out
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Was Their Art: Poppy, punky, jangly and ever so slightly pervy..., February 19, 2007
As the wail of the Smiths faded into British guitar-pop's hinterland and with the full-on trip of the up and coming Madchester scene lurking just around the corner, this little gem brightened up the lives of the new wave of indie kids looking for something new to shuffle their feet to.
Sandwiched between the thrashed out guitars of the "Hang-Ten" EP and LP and the conformity to late-eighties/early nineties dream-pop on "Lovegod", "This Is Our Art" is the peak of guitar-pop perfection.
"Kingdom Chairs" kicks things off in a fairly raucous manner and yet the thrashing of Sean Dickson's and Jim McCulloch's guitars is all handled in a remarkably tuneful and melodic way. You could even say the sound they wring out of them is akin to that of some of the mid-sixties surf bands, a sound continued with no slowing of pace as they kick into "Great Empty Space".
The album is by no means all balls-to-the-wall frenetic guitar songs. "On Overhead Walkways" is as near to a jangly, easy going pop tune as you could ever hope to hear; "Majestic Head?" even starts with a string quartet before launching into its full-on perviness. There's even a gentle love song - "Soft As Your Face" - and a full-on breathless rocker "Passion Protein". What more could you want from an album?!
In my mind only the Darling Buds' "Pop Said" and Voice Of The Beehive's "Let It Bee" come anywhere near this epitome of THE late eighties indie sound and to me, "This Is Our Art" stands head and shoulders above all the other contenders.
As far as the next stage of The Soup Dragons' musical career went, there's even a little pointer with the last track on the album, the aptly titled "Another Dreamticket". From here on, it was onto "Lovegod" with its baggy beats and then obscurity, although most of the line-up of the Soup Dragons "This Is Our Art" incarnation appeared in the BMX Bandits who are still around today.
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