This four track E.P., the latest from JONNY COLA & THE A-GRADES tends to show exactly where the band’s strengths and weaknesses are: - listed on their publicity as having top pop tunes which they say “will eat into your brain like it’s Top Of The Pops 1973 all over again”.
Do they do this? My answer would be an emphatic “No”.The highs of 1973 were Wizzard, Slade, Sweet, none of which this lot sound particularly like. However, what Jonny Cola & The A-Grades ARE is a good band that appears to have placed at least one foot in the 1978 post punk camp, and that’s no bad thing.
Of the four tracks on the E.P., I felt that the last two were the strongest and showed the band at their best. The opening track ‘Postcode Wars’ romps along nicely in a style that would be more akin to The Clash than anything else, with a catchy chorus of: - “Don’t fight. Let’s sort it all out in the bedroom. No guns, no bombs, no protest songs.”
This is good, but nothing that for me really stood out. The same was true of the second track, ‘Alpha Male’, which was slower, until halfway through when it explodes with some excellent guitar work.
Far better is ‘Summer of Hate’, a post punk rocker that speeds along with a seething intensity the like of which was found on tracks like The Ruts ‘Babylon’s Burning’. The lyrics are sharp and to the point: -
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“Cos I don’t want this summer of hate, I don’t want a summer of love/ I’d just like to see you smile, Maybe I’ll regain a little warmth.”
Finally, the band bows out on a high, the monumental ‘If I Leave You Sitting In The Dark (Just let Me Know)’. This is a far softer track with almost psychedelic overtones and is the one for me that shows the Jonny Cola & The A-Grades can really deliver the goods. A song that is both whimsical and a sympathetic love song at the same time, this is the sound of the band casting off any comfort zone, and allowing their musicality to the fore.
Overall, I liked the E.P., and certainly on the basis of the last two tracks see that they clearly have something good to offer. Stay tuned.
Jonny Cola & The A-Grades online
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