With the exception of the totally unremarkable, ‘What Do I Have To Do?’, the gently alternative and Eels-like ‘The Exorcist’ (which would have been one of the few real ‘gems’ on the album had it actually broken out of some kind of orbit) and ‘Pretty One’ The Kicks ‘new’ album ‘Hello Hong Kong’ is actually a re-vamped and re-issued version of an album the band released in 2000 under the name ‘Ashtray Babyhead’. The album’s wilful, even, flag-waving derivativeness divided opinion the first time around. And I dare say it will this time. And whilst we’re all in the habit of recycling former glories – here’s what Crud’s Jason Thornberry said the first time around:
“Coming straight outta Arkansas, you would probably expect a group of Ashtray Babyhead’s caliber to have about nine guys, eight on dueling banjos, and one on a water jug, but these kids wanna be different, crazy even! Like, they’ll wear Styx t-shirts on the cd sleeve! Holy shit! That’s so nutty! And no one ever has pictures of amplifier knobs on their records or guitar input plugs on their album covers! WOW!!!
Instead of a set list awash in Southern Pride this outfit heads North to pillage from a group already guilty of being reminiscent of milking an entire career a single Cars outtake Ric Ocasek never got around to putting out. Ashtray Babyhead are what Ghostface Killa would call “sharks.“ They take big, stingy gulps from the Weezer songbook. Thing is, Weezer are still together!
Sorry, fellas. It’s just dumb. An unoriginal, shite waste of my time.“
Was it all really as bad as that? Probably not. ’12 Steps’ and ‘Pretty One’ make for pleasant enough pop – but against a gruelling backdrop of palpably original bands like The Rapture, The Walkmen and The Features who needs rock that pops its cork for every band in town?
Anyway, here’s The Kicks, proving, if nothing else, that recycling is not always good for the environment.