Ten months without a post! Sorry about this corner of our little alphabetical world - somehow 7"s get overlooked and I tend to do them in batches. We left off with Chisel last year and pick it up with a 7" that might actually belong chronologically before 'The O.T.S.'. Post-
8 AM All Day Chisel never did much for me, apart from a few songs here and there. 'It's Alright, You're OK' feels like a tune with a bit more pop chart potential than anything before. Leo's voice has always been high in the mix, and there's a lot less guitar scrapings, instead being driven by a bouncing bassline and an organ-swirl chorus. That said it's a lot less 'heavy' and the traces of 'punk' are removed in favour of a more feel-good, soulful mod pop. I like this song a lot, but you have no idea how many times I listened to it in high school. The b-side is a song that for some reason I always thought was a cover, but it's actually not. It's a bit more driving, with some good strumming, maybe a return to form of their old
Nothing New-era sound. It's lacking the one spark of greatness to catapult it out of B-side territory, but at this point, I'll take it over the flip.
Cause Co-Motion are actually from NYC I think, but from this record you'd think it was Manchester in '78. There's a British twang creeping out from the singer's voice, and the guitars are glassy and bright over the bouncy basslines. I'd almost say these songs are interchangeable, folding up with major key changes. 'Which Way is Up?' asks the question repeatedly but stops in a puff of 45 rpm dust before it's answered. 'Falling Again' on the flip isn't any longer but slightly more 80s-sounding. I always associated this band with noisy stuff like Times New Vikings but there's no sleep in these eyeballs. I think these guys are trying to reinvent the idea of the singles band, and this is certainly a good entry.
