Reviewed by John Baugh

Talk about not judging a book by its cover! A sleeve design that strongly suggests prog rock - you know, invading seafood, winged band logo, etc. But actually what you find inside is a great slab of the best sort of alternative rock - loud guitars, interesting chords, slightly punky yet quite tuneful. Not that the spirit of prog is completely vanquished; a bit like Radiohead these Heroes are not afraid to actually arrange and structure their songs with time signature changes and quirky moments - witness the almost operatic singing on the opening track "Visitors". And some of the tracks do go well beyond the three-minute pop song form. What I like here is that there is a sense of playing, grabbing whichever elements of music they like before doing what they fancy with it, seeing what happens, which is usually pretty good. Also as far as lyrics are concerned a certain intelligent and careful crafting is evident, which is always a hit as far as I'm concerned. So if you are in the environs of Dundee check out this hugely talented five-piece. Alternatively you can enjoy some of the tracks on Myspace, not to mention a slightly odd (in a good way) video introducing the band. Long live intelligent rock!

LIVE REVIEWS: SPANKY'S HEROES

Jan 12 2007 Barry Gordon

SPANKY'S HEROES, WHISTLEBINKIES, EDINBURGH, JAN 10 ***

WOW! What's this? A band from Dundee who are actually rather good.

Their sound is a cross between American New Wave of the early Eighties and modern indie (think Snow Patrol).

It's big and beefy sound and sometimes catchy - though they do, sadly, have a penchant for Bon Jovi.

The Hills Are Alive and Holy Cow were the top songs but, if this lot can shorten the length of their songs and tone down the self-indulgence, they might be on to a winner.

Here's hoping.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/enterta...

The songs available on this page are unmastered, as bebo doesnt want to let me upload the mastered versions.

Fear not, the real album tracks are far crisper, in fact a quick visit to:

http://www.myspace.com/spankysheroes

will let you appreciate the fully mastered versions.