From the vaults...

Time now for a new feature (ie one off) in which we revisit classic albums (or ’long players’) from yesteryear. Apparently, there are entire magazines dedicated to this sort of thing, but only old people with rubbish haircuts read them. This is much more fun.

In the first (ie only) edition, we go all the way back to the summer of 2007; to a time when Amy Winehouse was better at keeping secrets, BBC3 still had its orange blobs and the price of a pint of beer was only about £2.40.

Classic Album #1
Chunking - Stay Up Forever

‘Stay Up Forever‘, like Dragonette’s ‘Galore’, should finally silence everyone who says pop music and real instruments do not mix. Everything about it - from the title and artwork to the actual tunes themselves - is pop incarnate, and it’s FULL of guitars and drums.

Tunes like former single ‘Love Is Here To Stay’ and the spiky ‘Know What You Mean’ lead the snakebite ’n’ leather charge, with a drum sound last heard during the actual seventies featured on the lovely, ‘frapptastic ‘It Could Be Wonderful’.

However, it‘s not all unkempt rowdiness: ‘Slow It Down’ sounds like the sort of groove Liberty X once excelled at, just with infinitely better singing; while Rachel Stevens would literally remove limbs for something as good as ‘Itch & Scratch’. All the tunes betray a heavy electropop influence, and Chungking really shine when fusing their many rocktronic elements together, like they do on ’Baby’, or the amazing title track.

Choruses like rollercoasters (ie. they go in all different directions and leave you feeling a bit dizzy); hooks more nagging than a handful of nettles; lyrics about going out, dancing and being in love; all these things make ‘Stay Up Forever’ one of 2007’s best pop albums.

***** (FIVE STARS).