THE BLUETONES RIP

Bad news....Unfortunately this is a concert I won’t get to see http://www.nme.com/news/the-bluetones/55742

The beauty of The Bluetones’ music was their combination of the Glenn Tilbrook/Neil Finn influenced vocals of Mark Morriss and the satisfying pop visions they conjured up and the rest of the band’s traditional British rock style which was in keeping with the Brit Pop of the day.

When they were at their best, most notably on their first album EXPECTING TO FLY, their second album RETURN TO THE LAST CHANCE SALOON, and their fourth album LUXEMBOURG, Morriss’s vocals were perfectly complimented by the band’s heavier instincts.

While The quality of Morriss’s voice and the melodic sense which accompanied it never failed to be satisfying, the individual albums rose and fell on the instrumental arrangements.

On EXPECTING TO FLY, the big early 70’s sound- The Beatles filtered through Badfinger and other imitators then championed by Oasis.  What The Bluetones had that made them different was less of the self-promoting toughness and more of the McCartney pop side in the vocals and the melodies.

RETURN TO THE LAST CHANCE SALOON kepT the melodies but streamlined the sound roughing up the guitar even more and playing around with the rest resulting in a lighter take on the “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” style .

SCIENCE AND NATURE added a fifth member on the keyboards which resulted in looser jamming feel to the music.  Needs a bit tightening up but still plenty of great songs there.

LUXEMBOURG returned to them to a four piece and focused on short punchy songs almost power pop.  Very different from their other records - Immediate and fun.

The last two Bluetones records THE BLUETONES  and A NEW ATHENS found them sinking into a comfortable groove with more of a mellow vibration and Morriss’s voice even more center stage.  It lacked the dramatic impact of the earlier records but was still very beautiful music.

The Bluetones were one of the longest lived of the original Brit Pop bands.  Here’s to them and their music and the hope pretty voiced singers will front harder rocking bands in the future.