A renaissance in pop music
...and( not because they look as if they’ve stepped out of history)
THE LAST DINNER PARTY: Prelude To Ecstasy (Island) Verdict: Appetising debut ★★★★
PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS: Band On The Run (MPL) Verdict: One of Macca’s finest moments ★★★★★
AS ONE of the most talked-about new bands in years, The Last Dinner Party could have been cowed by the anticipation surrounding their first album. The quintet only played their first gig in 2021, but have since won a BRIT — this year’s Rising Star award — and topped the BBC’s Sound Of 2024 poll, the first guitar group to secure the double.
But they rise to the occasion on Prelude To Ecstasy, a debut that opens with a classical overture, finishes with an orchestral coda and is dominated, in between, by grandiose art-rock anthems and windswept, melodic ballads. You can’t accuse them of holding back.
It’s an album in keeping with their colourful image. The group, who met as students in London, dress like extras from a Renaissance costume drama. and given time, they could spark their own gothic fashion trend. For now, though, the onus is on the music and, with the versatile voice of Abigail Morris front and centre, they deliver with aplomb.
There is, it must be said, a whiff of affectation. They describe this album as ‘an archaeology of ourselves’. Guitars aren’t strummed, but are ‘exorcised for their solos’. But there’s flair and imagination, too. Producer James Ford was behind two of 2023’s best albums (from Jessie Ware and Depeche Mode), and he’s helped craft another promising one here.
A mood of star-crossed romance is evident. ‘I am at the stake, petrol my perfume,’ sings Morris on Burn Alive, casting herself as Joan Of Arc. As with Caesar On A TV Screen (‘My darling, believe me, I was born to be with you’), the staccato shimmer is enhanced by strings, harp and timpani, conducted by keyboardist Aurora Nishevci. But there are addictive hooks amid the melodrama — The Feminine Urge opens with a Be My Baby-like drumbeat, and Nothing Matters, a passionate if crude love song, has been streamed 26m times on Spotify. There are moments where it feels a little over the top. ‘Let my last words be our last dance,’ beseeches Morris on Portrait Of A Dead Girl. However, having paid their dues playing live, this predominantly female quintet (four women and one member, guitarist Lizzie Mayland, who identifies as non-binary) have now produced a striking debut.
THERE was a sense of joyful liberation around the release of Paul McCartney’s fifth postBeatles album in December 1973. Not only did Band On The Run dispel the blues that had engulfed him since the demise of The Fab Four three years previously, it was one of his finest moments — and today’s 50th anniversary package, despite arriving two months late, reiterates its greatness.
The sessions had been challenging. Craving a change, McCartney chose to record in Lagos, Nigeria. But just days before departure, guitarist Henry McCullough and drummer Denny Seiwell quit his band, Wings, leaving a trio of Paul, his keyboardplaying wife Linda and exMoody Blues guitarist Denny Laine (right). Soon after arrival, Paul and Linda were robbed at knifepoint. Out of adversity came brilliance. With Macca on guitar, bass, piano and drums, Wings were a band on the rise. From the title track’s ambitious threepart structure to sublime ballads Bluebird and Mamunia, the LP established a signature Wings sound, with Paul’s voice blending seamlessly with Linda’s sweet harmonies and Denny’s deeper tones. Today’s remastered edition also features an ‘underdubbed’ version of the album, with all the woodwind and string embellishments, along with some guitars, removed. Not only are the strippeddown takes a revelation, but they reinforce what a great rock’n’roll drummer McCartney is. It’s no wonder that he and Dave Grohl, another rhythmic powerhouse, have become buddies.
Speaking at a playback on Tuesday, producer Giles Martin, who has also created a high-definition Dolby Atmos mix of the LP that is available to stream, described Band On The Run as McCartney’s ‘champagne cork moment’. Over half a century on, it’s lost none of its sparkle.
O The Last Dinner Party play Dublin’s 3Olympia Theatre on October 7 (ticketmaster.ie). Band On The Run is out as a single vinyl LP (€18), double LP (€42), double CD (€24), and digitally.