OK, leap of faith time, but stick around because it’ll be worth your while. THE MEN are an authentic, snappily-dressed Mod combo from, er, Lund in Sweden. Yes, yes, I realise it’s hardly Vespas down the Goldhawk Road and that the band’s native land is more famous for Volvos and ice hotels, but if you love the heady days of the original Marquee Club and/ or Northern Soul as in Wigan Casino and The Twisted Wheel but were too young to experience it first hand, then hang on, for you’re about to be teleported.
Because The Men’s second album ‘The Men Return’ really DOES hark back to the spring of 1965 and the tight, r’n’b-influenced pop sounds being trailblazed by The Who, The Action and the gritty, early Stones. I didn’t hear the band’s debut album, but I believe it was a well-chosen selection of Mod, Garage and Soul covers and – while the 12 songs featured on ‘The Men Return’ are all self-penned selections - it’s true that you’d hardly notice the join, such is the band’s resolute eschewing of modern values.
There again, if you do your homework, you’ll discover The Men have an admirable garage pedigree. The group’s four members, Sven Kohler (vocals, harmonica), Olof Wallberg (guitar, vocals), Ola Framby (bass, vocals) and drummer Niklas Kilenstam have previously featured in respected Swedish outfits such as The Sinners, The Girls, Colubrids and the Billy Childish-sounding Thee Expression. Indeed, this latter reference is especially cogent, because The Men are clearly disciples of Childish’s hardline valve’n’analogue approach.
Opener ‘Mama’s Knocking’ gives you a good idea of what to expect. An instant, punchy, Motown-derived affair played with the same speedy drive The Jam brought to covers like ‘Sweet Soul Music’ and ‘Heatwave’, it’s an excellent start, with singer Sven Kohler given the opportunity to showcase his impressive, Brian Jones-style harmonica technique.
They barely put a foot wrong after that either, especially when dealing in burly, amphetamined movers’n’shakers such as ‘I Ain’t Done With You Girl’ and ‘You Can Do As You Please’ where the snappy, bitten-off riffs are punctuated by Kilenstam’s bursts of Moon-esque power around the kit and Kohler’s lippy, Jagger-style vocal aggression is given free rein. Their inherent, punky-flavoured r’n’b is hugely infectious, too, not least when allied to the Wilko Johnson-ish snap of ‘Cannonball Girl’ and the harp-addled screamer that is ‘I’m Your Man’ which is straight outta the John Mayall handbook and more than a little wired to boot.
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Elsewhere, The Men go on to prove they are equally adept when doling out terse, edgy pop with The Kinks-y ‘Set Me Free’ and the glorious three-part harmonies of the Northern Soul-flavoured ‘If I Can’t Have You’, which could potentially do the business as a single even in these jaded and cynical days. As you might expect from what is essentially a very ‘live’-sounding record, downbeat moments are few and far between, though the big-production Soul number ‘All I Need Is Your Love’ recalls a more cranked and taut ‘Time Is On My Side’ and the band make an unexpected foray into afterhours blues with the slicked-back, Gitanes-flavoured ‘Dr. No Cool.’
OK, so inevitably we’re talking 110% ‘retro’ here, but in terms of authenticity, excitement and a love of their craft, The Men are more than capable of teaching the younger English pretenders like The Ordinary Boys and their ilk a trick or two in the 21st Century goldfish bowl. Let’s hope they can make it to these shores for some sharp-suited, sweaty club action before too much longer.
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