Paleday: Love The Groove
Paleday: Love The Groove
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Tuesday, 17, Jun 2008 12:00
Ranggy Tanggy Records, out now.
In a nutshell...
Light-hearted disco-dance fun.
What's it all about?
This is an unashamedly camp and cheesy collection of tracks melding together the disciplines of disco and dance into one groovy whole. Paleday admit that their music is something of a return to days gone by - but they note that those were the days when music was about having "a bloody good time". And many of the songs on this album do indeed hark back to a bygone era, when a synthesiser, drum machine and vocalist were enough to make a best-seller.
Paleday may not be looking to top the singles charts with any of their efforts on Love The Groove, but instead they have compiled a collection with a fair dose of variety, some tracks more funky, some a little downbeat, but based around a generally up-tempo and uplifting core ideal. Potentially the perfect unobtrusive background music for those Saturday night warm-up cocktails at home, where a none-too-careful listening process is to be expected.
Who's it by?
Paleday are now six-strong, all male and crossing the requisite instrumental disciplines of drums, guitar and bass between them. Steve, Alex and Phil fulfil those roles respectively, leaving room for an impressive complement of three vocalists. This comprises Sam on backing vocals and the lead duo of Anthony Jackson-Stubbs and Stephen, who also share writing and production duties.
While six members may seem a lot in an industry often populated by faceless producers whose vocals are supplied by session singers and guest stars, Paleday admittedly pull it off with some panache - whatever criticism may be levelled at their music, it is never allowed to become crowded, nor does one contributor ever dominate to the detriment of the others. The band, on the whole, seems an accomplished and well balanced being.
As an example...
"Wouldn't it be funny/If I lived right on the moon?/Take a holiday and stay there until June/I would be friends with Clangers/We'd make amazing tunes/I'd sing of missing you/While Soup Dragon sings the blues." - If I Lived On The Moon
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
To be honest, it's a slim chance if any. But you get the feeling that's not really what Love The Groove is about - it's about having a good time. Why make a winner if it means making losers? It just wouldn't be in the spirit of the thing.
What the others say
"Their slightly kitsch euro-disco sound has been done to death recently. The music is good though, very tight and accomplished, although this listener yearns for something a little less processed." - Adrian Denning
"The pain goes on. Blind Panic has that subtle blend of pervy slap bass and aimless strings that scream pornography soundtrack." - Simon Morgan, The Music Magazine
So is it any good?
As always, it depends what you're after. If it's an album that evokes your clubbing nights out over the past decade or so, Ministry of Sound's Chilled or one of its more frenetic counterparts might be a better option. If you're a secret lover of the synth plus drum machine equals music formula then this will be no disappointment.
On a first listen, I'd have given it four out of ten at most, but I'm prepared to go a little higher, not because of the quality of the music per se - the production values, at a guess, are not through the roof on Love The Groove - but because there's something strangely endearing about Paleday.
Just like that dusty old copy of Last Christmas (and I do mean the Whigfield version), this is the sort of album that'll see you through the summer as long as there's a cocktail in your hand and then spend a decade or so on top of the wardrobe. But the weird thing is, when you do find it again, it may just seem not so much of an embarrassment but more like an old friend. For that alone, it deserves some respect.
6/10
Bob Bardsley