There's another great review, by Mark Brend, of the new Distractions album in the latest issue of Record Collector magazine, you can read it here but the text follows below:
The Distractions - The End Of The Pier
Another 2012 Mancunian
comeback
The enterprising Devon-based Occultation label is carving a niche
for itself by reanimating post-punk pop outsiders. Last time out it was
Liverpool’s Wild Swans, now it’s the turn of Manchester’s Distractions, a
brief and anomalous presence on Factory back in 1979, before a move to
Virgin resulted in a sole album in 1980. Fast-forward a few decades and
core members Mike Finney (vocals) and Steve Perrin (guitar) reconvened
in Exeter to record their belated second album, produced by Occultation
boss Nick Halliwell and blessed with the considerable presence of
drummer Mike Kellie (Only Ones and Spooky Tooth).
The Distractions minted a sort of widescreen garage guitar pop first time around, which survives here, as hard to pigeonhole now as it was then. Finney is one of the great lost voices of English rock and, with a freshness and energy that belies his years, he’s the band’s ace card. Trading lines with Perrin on Halliwell’s Wise, the album’s strongest song, he achieves a high poignancy. Elsewhere, 100 Times fleetingly conjures up images of an English Springsteen driving a transit van on the M62, which is a good thing. Signing off with The Last Song, Finney gravely intones, “This is the last song I’ll ever sing.” We can only hope not.
The Distractions minted a sort of widescreen garage guitar pop first time around, which survives here, as hard to pigeonhole now as it was then. Finney is one of the great lost voices of English rock and, with a freshness and energy that belies his years, he’s the band’s ace card. Trading lines with Perrin on Halliwell’s Wise, the album’s strongest song, he achieves a high poignancy. Elsewhere, 100 Times fleetingly conjures up images of an English Springsteen driving a transit van on the M62, which is a good thing. Signing off with The Last Song, Finney gravely intones, “This is the last song I’ll ever sing.” We can only hope not.
Reviewed by Mark Brend
