Too numerous to mention are the artists who optimistically claim to be breaking new ground and defying all known genre labels. In a less pretentious manner, the five Yorkshire men who comprise The Incredible Magpie Band do not pretend that their sound is in any way unique or innovative. Far from reinventing the wheel, they are happy enough to keep all the existing moving parts well-oiled.
Proudly wearing their influences on their sleeves, they make no secret of their reverence for The Beatles, Oasis and The LA's. This devotion extends to appropriating these bands' 'classic' sound rather than using this as a springboard for anything more original.
The choice of band name therefore accurately identifies the 'magpie' instinct to 'steal' ideas from these musical heroes. It is worth noting that recent research has found that magpies propensity for compulsive thieving may actually be an urban myth in that these birds are more likely to suffer from neophobia, a fear of new things. Either way, the magpie simile still stands up to the point that an alternative (though admittedly clunkier) band name could have been The Neophobic Plunderers.
The Wakefield five-piece's eponymous debut album was recorded in Greenmount Studios in Leeds and seeks to replicate their earthy live sound as closely as possible. This means that they favoured 60s and 70s equipment over any newfangled technology and kept the process simple: "We all just got in a room, mic'd everything up and played" explains chief song writer and band leader Lee Knowles.
Pre-Sgt. Pepper Beatles style material sets the benchmark. Forever's Too Soon has a few psych moments that hint at the Revolver period but mostly it's pseudo-Merseybeat all the way.
The eleven songs include This Chose Me and Money, the A and B sides of their single and the feel good rhythms adhere closely to this no frills formula.
By the time you get to track 9 (Castles In The Sand) you start to believe them when they assert: "We can go on and on".
Picasso famously said "all art is theft" and, while this album also reminds us that not all theft is art, The Incredible Magpie Band achieve what they set out to do and play the kind of music they like to listen to. When push comes to shove, there's nowt wrong with that.
