Back in the febrile '60s, there was an excretory musical act called
We the People
, a group of fresh-faced, well-groomed young people serving up bland, unchallenging
pop
as a counter-weight to all that raucous
rock
and revolution that kids were slurping up by the bucketful.
Locksley
appear to be their subversive offspring. Across their self-released debut album,
Don't Make Me Wait
, the quintet offer up flawlessly bright and breezy
numbers, perfect for the tween crowd, a sort-of scream-inducing
Beatles
circa 1964 for a new generation. In fact,
"All of the Time"
would have slotted neatly onto the
Meet the Beatles!
album with its light touches of
R&B
, lovely bass solo, and heart- fluttering harmonies.
"My Kind of Lover"
is similarly Fab Four-ish down to its ringing guitars, semi-shouted chorus, and a few "yeahs" thrown in for good measure. But
"Let Me Know"
takes the Liverpudlians into new territory, giving their sound a surprising punky edge. The
Small Faces
were
punk
before the term was even invented, and
's exuberant
"She Does"
is the best song
Steve Marriott
never wrote or performed. Back in the day, detractors called
the Faces
a
Rolling Stones
knock-off, and that latter band's influence can be heard all over
"All Over Again."
But nobody could hurl that accusation at
the Kinks
, least of all
, who pay tribute to that group on
"Up the Stairs."
In the '70s, for all their dinosaur slaying, the punks were still beholden to the bands of their youth, and that includes
the Cure
who owed their own slight debt to
the Beatles
, and on
"The Past and the Present"
repays it for them by exquisitely combining the styles of both groups. Years on, and the styles may have changed, but even modern sounding bands continue to dredge up the past, as
"It Won't Be for Long"
shows. And so
brings the set surreptitiously full circle, from the past straight into the present. Today, '60s
is covered in a sheen of innocence, back then it was the sound of freedom and liberation as teens flexed their muscles and discovered their own power.
have instinctively grasped that truth, and their oh-so-wonderfully shiny, hook-laden
shivers with possibilities and excitement, while quivering with just a hint of danger that rises up in tinges of
. Incidentally, the title track, a straight out
-
boogie, has already garnered air time backing an advert for Payless Shoes. It's a splendid number, but sits a bit uneasily with the rest of the set. That's OK though, the tweens won't mind, they'll be too busy singing along, and so will you: for every number here, like all those '60s greats before them, is so thoroughly infectious you'll never get them out of your head. Meet
,
stars for a new generation. ~ Jo-Ann Greene