Labels: Fixing A Hole
Review by: Andy Malcolm
SERIOUSLY?! A Torino 74 discography? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Isn’t anyone who was ever into this band dead, except me?
You can find a review of their three songs 7″ on the right hand side. All of that still applies. “When Capris Ruled the World” is easily their best song, and it’s still a perfect slice of Broccoli inspired emo-pop. All out of tune gruff vocals and bouncy guitars and rhythms that pile on through. The bass on this track is astonishing, even if it is buried within. I still get these little traces of Evergreen from it, although that may be wishful thinking. And there’s a weird trebly sound on the cymbal, like this was maybe this was mastered from an MP3? Not great, but the songs carry the day.
The rest of this CD that wasn’t on the 7″ were never finished apparently, but still sound good enough for me. Broccoli is the clear touchstone but who can blame them for that? The recording is pretty solid given that they profess these to be not quite fully complete, and songs like “Four Summers” kill it, belting along, beaten down yet fighting back, it’s what we all struggle for and through. That they have songs named Winterburn and Southgate tells you all you need to know about this band. Doughty, ugly, hated, under-rated. Spirit. That’s the word. Bags of it. They are at their best when flying along at pace on stuff like “Shovels and Precipitation”, and maybe the songs do end up kind of sounding a bit the same, but do I look like I give a shit? I love it when they stick these sneaky little emo-pop bits in the songs too, like someone was super into the Promise Ring but didn’t tell the rest of the band. Just check the gorgeous twangy bits on “Emergency” near the end whilst the rest of the song is hurtling off into the distance. Plus they have a song called “Coming Clean”.
This CD makes me miss 10 years ago. It makes me miss Crackle Records. It makes me miss Broccoli. It’s not perfect (what is?), but I’m glad it happened. What a ridiculous surprise.