“8/10 - As natural as a big pine tree in an area of untouched Caledonian woodland” Single Review: Fickle Public - Barfly Glasgow on 26/01/06 - Just Like I Got Used To Saying Courteney Cox Arquette

The-Mag`s most recent run-in with Fickle Public came when Andy R saw them rock out at the Glasgow Barfly in January, "jerking and bouncing throughout" a set that seemed to please our own member of the fickle public. That night they finished with this single, "Just Like I Got Used To Saying Courteney Cox Arquette" (that`s boosted my word count) for which they received a "rapturous send off" from their home crowd. So what`s all the fuss about then?

Rather refreshingly there is only the one track on this CD; they seem to have gone for the concentrated quality option of which I approve whole-heartedly.

We begin with some faded in guitar distortion (as all good songs should) and quickly rip into the tune`s main hook; an infectious foot-stomping riff in some bizarre off-beat time signature that ruins any attempt at competent foot-tapping. Then another nice surprise arrives in the form of a singer who can (wait for it...) actually sing. It`s a minor gripe of mine that the recent bout of 80s-influenced tat has polluted the current scene with shouty, talky, off-key `singers` more concerned by warding off deep-vein thrombosis due to the tightness of their jeans than sounding halfway decent in front of a microphone. No danger of that here though.

The singing also has a nice rhythm and melody to it, interlinking with that behemoth of a riff in a sort of `question and answer` fashion before polishing each verse off with a terrifying scream that seems as natural as a big pine tree in an area of untouched Caledonian woodland - which is pretty natural I suspect. Our monster riff then mutates into a modern twist on the age-old solo, jerking and restarting like a knackered Chevy, before flowing into the final verse that chugs towards the end of our 2 minutes 29 seconds sounding a lot more menacing than it did the first time round. One final hit of the riff that will now forever be imprinted in my brain finishes us off and suddenly I don`t like one-track CDs quite so much anymore.

© The Mag 2006