Elastica - Elastica

At Least Britpop had Elastica

Elastica was considered a britpop band, but miles ahead of junk like Oasis and Blur. Elastica won't change your life, nor is it a groundbreaking record. But the almost all-girl band plays a great blend of catchy, edgy, pop rock with a hard edge to it.

Justine Frischmann and Donna Matthews add the right vocals, and they never sound as forced as that annoying Kathleen Hannah and Courtney Love, who, when trying to do rock, fail miserably. I really don't know how the band is able to put a metallic edge and sing pop vocals on top, but they do it. A couple of complaints would be the very bland choruses/harmonies (the horrible S.O.F.T. is full of them) that can pop out from time to time, but there's less of that. You'll want to sing along.

The band themselves can rock out for the best of them. Once again, it's amazing how they can have hard rock and pop vocals on top, but it happened. It's the chemistry, probably. The guitar riffs are tasty pretty much, but the bass and drums really have their chances to shine, or at least display a stellar use of addictive, dancable goodness. And those bass tones are thick and hearty, you could ________ eat that gun-up on Line Up. Metallic pop-punk-rock has never sound so good.

Elastica were often accused of being a rip off of the band Wire (they were sued by the band), but Elastica has enough twists to be there own. Then again, I've never heard Wire, so what do I care? Elastica is a bit deriative (The Indian Song=The Beatles influence), but a good pop song is a good pop song, and Elastica deliver plenty of them.

7/10 June 18, 2008

I have a strong hunch, this year or next, there will be a 2CD deluxe of this classic...

OK, I've always loved this album, but it too went missing...then I thought, oh jeez, this album is 13 years old!!! I recently got the 4CD "Brit Box", and "Stutter" is on it, Elastica's representation...and it still retained its snap, crackle & pop...but I had the urge to hear "Connection" again, and the whole album really...I wanted to see if it still held up...I just found a good used copy, so I bought it, popped it on, and it all came flooding back.

Really effing great, and the type of lightning-in-a-bottle magic, where everything came together...songwise, stylewise, hitwise (this album had like 6 hit singles??!!??), just once...then the Stone Roses curse set in, where they couldn't follow it up perfectly and much too late, 2001's "The Menace", while decent and even enjoyable, but Justine and co's moment had come and gone...the Roses were delayed by a record company lawsuit...Elastica were delayed by Justine's perfectionism, and bandmembers defecting.

Now that the air is cleared up, and this album entered the realm of nostagia, I recall that while on Geffen and Infectious UK (I think that's their indie label in Britain??), they released a TON of B-sides and BBC sessions. Now that Geffen and Universal releases these 2CD deluxe packages...there's one out shortly on Beck's groundbreaking "Odelay", and there were 3 on Sonic Youth...it would be a GREAT idea (hint hint) for the label to reissue this landmark album, remastered and freshened up for this generation as well as 90s kids and 70s/80s punk/new wave kids...with ALL their great B-sides and more in one tidy, compact place...dontcha think??? Maybe include some songs that were scrapped and intended for a possible Geffen followup????

Just a thought...loving this album all over again...oh joy!!! January 26, 2008

a classic

i had this cd years ago...and somewhere along the way it went missing so i had to have a replacement. Now that i listen to it again, i remember why it was so great. there are so many bands out there now (yes, that i can admit that i enjoy) that have a similar sounds (a la the sounds). enjoyable, fun, and a classic August 31, 2007

Freshman Year of High School

I've been trying this experiment lately. It all started when I heard a song on an episode of [...] As Folk that I absolutely loved and played endlessly. Suddenly, I was swept up in nostalgia, and I was recalling my Sophomore year of university in waves and waves of emotions, sounds and smells and memories that I didn't even know I had. So, I went further into this experiment and began dragging out old mixes and albums.

Here I found Elastica. Sigh. I was about 13, it was my Freshman year of high school. There was this girl on the bus that I knew because we had been riding the same route for a few years. One day, I hear her humming "Car Lover" and I began singing along to it. We became fast friends.

This is playing in my car right now. "Stutter", "Hold Me Now", "Annie", and of course "Hold Me Now" neatly sum up this album for me. I recommended it highly. April 10, 2007

Great album from a great band

Short, catchy tunes decorated with excellent harmonies, solid drumming, and sophisticated arrangements. The lyrics lament, attack, and celebrate various relationships and, more importantly (or in the case of Stutter, impotently) SEX. Three people who can play their guitars and create lovely harmonies and counterpoint among them. Two guitarists who play on and around the beat. Lots and lots of energy. A bassist who knows how to properly employ the almighty hook. Wonderful energetic british rock. November 27, 2006

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