GAY DAD
Leisure Noise (London)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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It's a question that haunts all of us ink-stained wretches of the pop music press. If we know so damned much, and it's so damned easy, then why don't we make our own damned hit record?

Because, for the most part, we can't. Many of us have tried - there are a lot of players behind those pages of prose - and most of us have, well, our success rate is less than stellar. Once in a while, though...

Once in a while is right now with the success of Gay Dad, which has joined the upper echelon of the Brit glam-pop revival with Leisure Noise. Fronted by Cliff Jones, one-time scribe for journals including The Face and MOJO, Gay Dad has appropriated a melange of what's worked for countless bands over the last thirty or so years and made it work for them. They wear their influences on their sleeves, and as a result they're a delight for those of us whose vocation includes unearthing such things. From the Beatles to Bolan to Bowie and well beyond, there's plenty here that will sound familiar, but somehow they manage to avoid sounding simply imitative. Familiar things are often our favorite things, and this is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums.

Track List:

Dimstar * Joy! * Oh Jim * My Son Mystic * Black Ghost * To Earth With Love * Dateline * Pathfinder * Different Kind Of Blue * Jesus Christ

© 2000 - Shaun Dale