Listen to Little Red
Little Red
Score:70
Reviewer: Ed Butler
Label: Hooch Hound (Australia)
Reviewed: Jun 4th '08, Released:2008
Channelling an entire decade of music is challenging enough when you grew up in the thick of it, but for five likely lads who were born 25 years after Richie Valens died, recreating a stack of Chuck Berry and Sam Cooke records becomes doubly impressive. And this is certainly a faithful recreation, with all the chutzpah of a young band whose sound insists that they are listened to.
For the uninitiated, Little Red are a five piece R ‘n’ B group with a love of vocal harmonies, grey suits and skinny ties, squeaky clean guitars and a penchant for singing about girls and soft drink. But it’s the garage rock hidden beneath the sheen that ensures a measure of ramshackle charm and individuality in the band. Imagine a band that Ralph and Richie would check out in the café on Happy Days after a night on the tiles, and the sound and look of Little Red is apparent.
After the crisp recording of last year’s EP, Get Ready!, Little Red have clearly decided to lend their profanity-free pop an extra layer of credibility. Listen to Little Red has a distinctive fuzz sound that is no doubt found on the ancient analogue recordings that are in their parents’ attic. When three or four harmonies collide, the sound is a deep blue nostalgic sea. And, by and large, it works nicely. In an era where pop is determined to be simultaneously sleazy and over-produced to within an inch of its life, it is truly reassuring to hear pop that is as dirty as it is clean.
At 16 tracks, it does tend to overstay its welcome, even though the average track length barely nudges two minutes. Standing alone, almost all tracks hold up nicely, but against a backdrop of 15 similar numbers, the album has a tendency to fade into the background.
But these criticisms feel unfair in the face of such relentlessly upbeat pop. There is enough of an assortment of hooks and cheerily innocuous lyrics to wash away most concerns about song sequence and unnecessary filler. While Little Red have, perhaps inevitably, failed to totally capture the playhouse intensity of their live show, they have certainly established that they deserve the attention they are receiving, and, given time and some diligence, have the talent to build on this most respectable start to their career.
