Cast are a band that largely passed me by, but spent last year supporting Oasis and have now, presumably while Oasis crowds can still remember their name, released this new album.
I spent some time trying to think of something to say until my wife said she’d liked them back in the day: “I like his voice and they write some good melodies,” she said, which is about it. It’s only pop music after all.
They still write good melodies and the vocals are the same, though the songwriting has matured, the vocals are a little deeper in places and the sound fuller. Oh, and they used to sound like The Who, whereas now it’s the Stones.
Opener “Poison Vine” is the most Rolling Stones of the lot, suggesting “Exile on Main Street” (and specifically “Happy”) is much-played in the Cast clubhouse.
“Don’t Look Away” is less Stones and more just a good pop tune, with a hummable melody and some excellent backing vocals (admittedly very Stones), the song swelling to a crescendo that has the kitchen sink thrown at it.
The slower “Free Love” is good, opening with an exotic sound suggesting Eastern climes, followed by a loping tune that sounds like a Beatles out-take (the album is called “Yeah Yeah Yeah” after all). “Way It’s Gotta Be” is unexpectedly funky, suggesting time spent listening to blues-rock.
There are a couple of Britpop-by-numbers tracks but on the whole this is a quality album, with no filler. A couple of reviews have mentioned it having swagger, but I think it’s just top-class musicians doing what they do best. While there’s a lot going on, it feels as if any fat has been trimmed.
Oddly, considering the production effort going into the all-band songs, album standout is perhaps “Devil and The Deep”, just vocals and acoustic guitar – if you like John Power’s vocals, this one’s for you, but it’s a great bit of songwriting; definite encore material before wheeling out the hits.
Out now. The cover’s hideous.
JMC
