Diesel
Park West
Release new album
'Do
Come In Excuse The Mess’
Out 13 August 2012 on Danville Records
A new Diesel Park west album? What
possible benefit is such an item meant to bestow upon anyone be they band
members or the handful of devoted fans one would think are already content with
a back catalogue seven albums strong. Even the era of the mildly curious buyer
has surely now evaporated into a sectarian musical lifeboat presided over by
the immovable force of corporate media and the vague shifting sands of what
used to be called fashion.
Well with album eight “Do Come In
Excuse The Mess”, a title so loaded with metaphor even the most committed DPW
dismissive might want to ponder for a minute, the answer to why this band still
exists might be here…..Each decade in rock n roll has seemed at the time as the
defining one, a view usually undone about halfway through the next. Could
anybody really have imagined prog followed by punk in say 1966? Its hard to be
certain of course but most likely not. Even Revolver at the time was largely
received as another fab four album albeit with suddenly acid drenched guitars
but still containing all the harmonic and melodic references attributed to the
most famous people on earth…..
Diesel Park West first really
emerged at the end of the eighties and even then were quickly zapped and rolled
over by the Mancunian tsunami probably being expected to then fade away only to
show up on a “where are they now “ tv show or something equally depressingly
pointless years later. Thing is, it just hasn’t happened that way. The Diesel
have always been useless at fitting into a predictable paper chase yet have
more often than not been pioneers and direction pointers for those who would
follow. Back in 88-89 their soaring yet earthbound sound was considered at odds
with contemporary tastes yet it rings out today with confidence and a deep
grasp of the now.
The opener here “Charlotte Its All
Over “ is as relevant a slice of the Haight resurrection any soul is likely to
require while the haunting “Not Broken” is basically a rebel song performed
without the slightest hint of phoney victimhood instead being delivered with
natural English reserve and understated drama. Last Show In Town and Arthurs
Song (about Arthur Lee ) both take you exactly where you want to go without
even knowing you want to go there.
There are ten songs on this album
all carrying within them evidence and witness to the durability and importance
of a band which has continued without any finger of fortune being pointed at
it. Listen to this record and should you feel a beckoning or even goaded into
reviewing it then do so. People need to know they really do.
Songs written by John Butler
gtr-vocals …Rick Willson guitar ….Geoff Beavan bass ….Rob Morris drums…additional
keys Lee Backbeat. Recorded at Good Luck Studios Crystal Palace and D- Line
studios Leicester. Engineered by Adam Freakgene Ellis and Mark Wallis. Produced
by John Butler and Chris Kimsey.
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