by request
AllMusic Review
by Ned Raggett
Delicatessen's
attention -- gained via sections of the U.K. press -- may well have
been one of contrast in the end, a band emerging in the triumphant days
of mid-'90s Brit-pop that eschewed that approach for something rougher
and angrier. It wasn't grunge or anything, more a slashing grime that
made sense when one considers that the band recorded its debut at Toerag
Studios, haunt of such characters as Billy Childish and the Earls of Suave. In terms of atmosphere, if not exact sound, Gallon Drunk and the Tindersticks both define some of the mindset of the quartet, as did American acts like Girls Against Boys.
Certainly song titles like "You Cut My Throat, I'll Cut Yours" --
actually one of the prettiest, if still creepy, songs on the album --
and "Smiling You're Stupid" aren't "I'm OK You're OK" by any stretch of
the imagination. However, bandleader Neil Carlill
brought some of his own individual flair and charisma, with a
sometimes-restrained and sometimes-creeped-out delivery bolstered by
solid performances from the band as a whole. Indeed, it's arrangement
that really brings out the band's strengths, switching between
unnervingly pretty string/percussion crawls on "Red, Blue and Green" to
wracked, intentionally boxy-sounding white noise overload that doesn't
drown out everything so much as add to it. Carlill's
abilities with keyboards are in ways the foursome's secret weapon --
check out the rhythmic growl of the organ on the opening track, "I'm
Just Alive." There's an agreeable air of going beyond the obvious
lyrically as well -- if bluntly naming one song "Chomsky" is a touch
clunky, the invocation of a legendary film character with "C.F. Kane" is
handled in an intriguing fashion. Some of the best highlights are the
unexpected numbers, like the beautiful loser epic "Classic Adventure"
with its aspirational air set against Carlill's heavily treated, almost drowning vocals, or the brief piano/vocal-only "Advice."
Tracklist
| 1 | I'm Just Alive | 3:41 |
| 2 | C.F.Kane | 3:46 |
| 3 | Zebra/Monkey/Liar | 3:27 |
| 4 | Red, Blue & Green | 2:49 |
| 5 | Watercress | 2:20 |
| 6 | Classic Adventure | 3:38 |
| 7 | Appeased | 0:54 |
| 8 | Chomsky | 3:59 |
| 9 | You Cut My Throat, I'll Cut Yours | 2:28 |
| 10 | Sick Of Flying Saucers | 3:10 |
| 11 | Smiling You're Stupid | 2:58 |
| 12 | Inviting Both Sisters To Dinner | 4:30 |
| 13 | Advice | 1:15 |
| 14 | Love's Liquid | 3:40 |
| 15 | Froth | 3:18 |
| 16 | If She Was Anybody Else | 4:05 |
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