Vice Squad - Stand Strong Stand Proud
January 1982
Vice Squad
Stand Strong Stand Proud
Genre: Punk
2 out of 5
Highlights:
Propaganda
If there is one thing I don’t like about some 80s punk is the same thing issue I have with some mediocre Queen songs. They have a title and that’s the chorus, regardless of whether it can sustain a song or not. “If You Can’t Beat Them” is one of those. It feels like they were writing to that phrase instead of letting the song come together organically or be led by the melody or even a poem.
Adam Ant did that a lot as well.
But in both cases, the musicianship and/or the charisma could make up for what the song(s) lacked.
“Stand Strong Stand Proud” doesn’t have that musicianship, craft or charisma in Beckies Bondage’s frontwoman posing. So it follows that annoying “let’s write a song around a phrase” trope. And then its followed by the opposite where, on “Humane” she hews, melodically, so close to the chorus that it comes off as amateur hour. Or…punk. 80s punk.
It gets weird at the very end and I appreciate what they are trying to do on “Propaganda”. It’s really the only time the record shows any interesting ideas.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1eN0PXAzbqlmpbxKqnBOg7?si=oUArkQ0wRHWm8g9sRTGmKQ&dl_branch=1
No comments:
Post a Comment