The Baker Street Irregulars - Album Review

Baker Street Irregulars - Album Sampler

Tracklisting:
1. Little Car
2. We'll Never Be Friends
3. These Boots Were Made For Stalking
4. Big Kids Stole My Bike
5. I Love Lisa
6. Shithole Alumni
7. Want To Be Wanted
8. Drinking Song
9.I Want To Be With You
10. The Boss
11. It's Hard Being A man
12. Right Place Right Time Wrong Shoes


Unsigned bands are always recording and producing three or four track demos to demonstrate their sound, and every now and again deliver a set of songs worthy of causing a stir. The Baker Street Irregulars however, have decided to bypass the commercial treadmill and fund the recording, producing and packaging of a complete 12-track album to highlight their intentions.

The album has recently made ripples within Preston's lake of musical talent as the disc failed to show for its own launch night, but Listen Up North West has managed to get hold of a copy and can now give a taste of what is in store.

Fans of the Punk-pop four piece will no doubt recognise every track on the album as it kicks off with Little Car and We'll Never Be Friends. Both are based on deep, dirty basslines, taking a heavier approach than expected and displaying the Bakers' tendency to accompany their bubbly, upbeat sound with patently sinister undertones.

Similarity

By the time you reach Big Kids Stole My Bike, four tracks into the LP, it is a worry that The BSI have adhered to a very stringent formula. The band teeter on the verge between Indie-pop and American-punk, slipping very gradually towards the latter as the record risks getting drenched in similarity. However, following track 'I Love Lisa', one of the bands oldest recordings which gets a fresh coat of paint for its new birth, saves the album and marks the beginning of the discs' most interesting and enjoyable section.

Again I Love Lisa adopts the heavy basslines but also dispatches a catchy, swaggering melody ands runs head on into Shithole Alumni, which marks precisely what The Baker Street Irregulars are all about, simple sounds, clever lyrics and a lively tempo that refers perfectly, in all aspects, to student life.

Instantly memorable

The one thing missing from the album is the presence of a good lead solo, hinted at in tracks such as These Boots.. and I Want To Be With You but never materialising into a perfectly rounded lead section which could make some of these songs classics.

It is clear that The BSI know how to have a good time and want to put this across in their music. In certain parts of the album it is portrayed perfectly - the whistled melody in I Want To Be With You makes the song instantly memorable.

This album is a great starting point for the band as it sums them up perfectly. But, as punk revealed in the 70s, appearance is not everything in music and the band may find they need to now push on and take their sound, and some of these songs, that little bit further in order to get the attention that they crave.

Written by Dan Jeoffroy