Labels: Crackle Records
Review by: MH
I was quite excited by the prospect of getting hold of the Hooton 3 Car discography. I would have loved to tell you that I was holding a copy of it in my hands right now but alas the CDs (a double CD not least!) never found their way here. Allegedly lost in the post. I suspect the postman. I have no proof though but if you were carrying the Hooton 3 Car discography in your hands would you give it away? Pretty much every single song that they ever recorded and you’d give it to someone else? Even it was your job to deliver it and you’d risk being given the boot for stealing it? You’d really give it away? I think not. I think you’d take the damn CD alongside the other stuff for yourself alongside the other stuff as collateral damage and to destroy the rest of the evidence “” I mean, no-one in their right mind would risk their career for a copy of that new Sucioperro album so he can’t have nicked it for that reason. You could then sack the rest of the working day off, stick it on at home and listen to all 43 songs in a row without a break and reminisce about what a stupendous band they were. I don’t have my own copy so that is not something I have been doing. I have been doing the review from digital files thanks to this fiasco with the missing/stolen/lost CD. Apparently there are some thoughts and memories of the band members on the actual CD booklet too. For those who don’t know, Hooton 3 Car were around from 1994 to 1998 in the days of fellow purveyors of melodic punk like Broccoli and when Leatherface were still playing gigs more regularly. They played rocking and driving melodic punk with that melancholy edge to it – which, if you ask me, sounds much better for this type of music than all that posi stuff. Hoarse, throaty vocals, chugging riffs and damn fine songwriting. I mean, listen to “Box” for starters – a classic from years gone by. You even get their almighty cover version of Cyndi Lauper’s banger, “Time After Time”. I haven’t even mentioned the slightly less good “Manic Monday” cover yet either. John Peel was a big fan too and they recorded a number of Peel Sessions. This only escapes the Recommended tag as it’s a discography and sort of cheating if a great band releases all their stuff at once…clearly it is recommended in the real world though…and postman – if you ever decide you’ve had enough of listening to it or decide you’re well and truly over your infatuation with Hooton 3 Car and now exclusively like grime and doom please feel free to drop the CD round to my house – no questions asked.