Reviews

Beluga

More Kicks More Kicks LP

This three-piece from London delivers some solid power pop with a bubblegum sheen. You get a very polished and clean recording all the way through, which can feel a little clinical, but there’s a fair amount of fuzz here, as well as occasional vocal distortion. The bass comes through really strong, almost too heavily in the mix. Overall, I think the tracks are well-balanced and inspire singalongs on the first spin. Guitar is piercingly clear, though not as gritty as I’d like it to be. They sound like mod revival and more on the ’60s garage end of the power pop equation. Typically I’m into stuff with faster riffs when it comes to this genre, but I like it just fine. Though it’s not credited on the the liner notes, it sounds like there are keys on the track “She’s a Reaction,” and it’s a nice melody to fit in. My favorite song is “I’m on the Brink,” though I still do wish it was just a smidge faster. Cool band, good way to start off sunny days.

The Speedways Triple Platinum LP

This collection of tracks from the SPEEDWAYS’ first five years has everything you want in this style of power pop—hand-claps, catchy-as-hell choruses, key changes, you name it. A perfect rendition of early ’80s power pop, when new wave sounds were starting to creep in but nothing was ruined by major label pariahs just yet. Even better, as this is a collection of mostly singles, you don’t get any of the filler that was almost a gimme if you decided to snag a full-length by, say, FOTOMAKER, the SCRUFFS, or (to a lesser extent) 20/20. Some of these are re-recordings or remixed versions, and it adds to this collection of hits almost feeling more like a deliberate album. Forty-five years ago, the SPEEDWAYS would have been lapping their peers, and honestly, they still do today.