REVIEW: Hurricane #1, Hurricane #1 (Sire)
- Tim Mohr
Looking to rectify his errors while at the helm of Ride's last two albums, Andy Bell has put together a new band to showcase his songwriting. Though Bell writes all the songs for Hurricane, he has stepped into the background to allow Alex Lowe to assume the vocal duties. This, coupled with the severing of the uncomfortable working relationship between Bell and Ride partner Mark Gardner, seems to have relaxed Bell, and the new record presents his best material in years.
It would seem that Bell has been moving in a new direction for some years but felt compelled to make his material comply with an image that he, Gardner, and Ride's fans shared. With Hurricane, he finds himself able to produce and arrange without heeding those expectations. Songs such as the lead single, "Step Into My World," show that Bell favors big rock sounds akin to Oasis; this sheds some light on the odd mixture on Ride's final opus, Tarantula . And while that album did not work for the very reason that Bell attempted - but failed - to hide this tendency, Hurricane's debut works because Bell has started with a fresh approach.
Hurricane manages to create this big rock sound in the best possible way: unlike the new Lynyrd Skynyrd-esque Oasis record, Hurricane remains modern and fresh even while presenting catchy melodies and a wash of sound.
Given Bell's origins in one of the most influential, loved, and successful of recent British bands, it is unsurprising that comparisons to other giants come to mind when describing Hurricane. The opening track has some of the feel of the second Stone Roses album, though, again, since Bell finds himself in a new setting while John Squire and company were struggling under the pressure of the expectations surrounding the Stone Roses, Hurricane's "Just Another Illusion" comes off better than material on Second Coming . The fact that Squire has ceased bothering to write songs with his own new band, the Seahorses, is painfully obvious when their album is compared to the ten songs on Hurricane's confident and well-written debut.
On "Chain Reaction," Lowe sings with the drawn-out, spitting vigor of Liam Gallagher: "It's a chain reaction, you should know by now. Would you break the chains just for me?" Likewise, Bell strums with Noel's swagger on "Lucky Man," where the deep, wall-of-sound production, staccato strings, and great lyrics draw comparisons to Oasis.
Not that Hurricane are an Oasis rip-off band - though at times the lead guitar can sound very much like Noel. They just seem to have effectively combined the huge guitars and simple melodic lines that also distinguish Oasis from hundreds of similar bands. Obviously, given the early output of Ride, Bell has long been capable of writing unforgettable melody lines, and, thinking of the dense soundscapes of Ride's Nowhere , has long championed layers of guitar able to cause ear damage from miles away. So the success of Hurricane's technique can come as a surprise only in light of the last Ride record.
Songs like "Monday Afternoon" and "Stand in Line" demonstrate Bell's continued admiration for 60s pop purism, hardly surprising for a former member of Ride - a band perhaps surpassed only by the La's and Mock Turtles in their purist approach. But Bell's new freedom shows also on "Stand in Line," where a goofy, Frampton-esque wah-wah pedal closes the song, an effect that would have been anathema on early Ride albums.
Perhaps "Faces in a Dream" offers the definitive face of Hurricane: a confident vocal melody coupled to a pleasing musical backdrop that includes an organ, sparkling guitars, simple bass, tambourines along with light, complex percussion patterns (at least compared to Oasis), and a meandering lead guitar somewhat above the mix.
