Texas take a trip in a time machine
The Glasgow hit makers have returned to their Nineties heyday for an album with a few twists
TEXAS: Hi (BMG)
Verdict: Back on the map ★★★★✩ DEL AMITRI: Fatal Mistakes (Cooking Vinyl)
Verdict: No major slip-ups ★★★✩✩
SEASONED musical campaigners often face a dilemma as their careers progress. Take Texas, now well into their fourth decade as a band. Do they play the legacy card and keep their loyal fans happy by recycling old hits on tour and ‘re-imagining’ classic albums in the studio? Or do they push forward with different sounds? On their new album, Hi, they try to do both.
The Glasgow group’s original plan had been to release a collection of ‘lost’ songs after they found some unreleased tracks from the sessions for White On Blonde, the multi-platinum 1997 LP that saved their bacon after two albums that flopped. With its blue-eyed soul edge, White On Blonde yielded four Top Ten hits, including Say What You Want and Halo.
But, as they rummaged through the archives, singer Sharleen Spiteri and bassist Johnny McElhone also felt the urge to pen some new material, with White On Blonde serving as the springboard. ‘We were inspired by ourselves!’ says Sharleen, 53. ‘We were fighting for our careers in 1997, trying to prove that we were still relevant — and it was amazing to look back on the energy we had.’
The upshot is an album, their eleventh, that mixes pop and R&B while throwing in a handful of more eclectic curve balls. The White On Blonde influences are clear from the off, with Mr Haze using a Donna Summer sample (her disco hit Love’s Unkind) to turn an unfinished Texas out-take from 1997 into a strident, adrenalinesoaked modern pop number.
Nods to the late 1990s abound. Texas team up with former collaborators RZA and Ghostface Killah, of the Wu-Tang Clan, on the title track, a rap-dominated piece about being high on romantic longing. You Can Call Me, boosted by orchestral strings and Vincent Curson Smith’s trumpet, echoes the mellow mood of 1997’s Say What You Want.
The record isn’t wholly in thrall to White On Blonde. There’s a country feel to Moonstar, with Sharleen channelling her inner Nancy Sinatra, and a low-key interlude in Dark Fire, written with Richard Hawley. For McElhone, there’s a reunion with his old Altered Images bandmate Clare Grogan, a charming presence on Look What You’ve Done.
There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking here. Just a few subtle touches to ensure the band continue to broaden their horizons. Curson Smith crops up again on the swirling, panoramic Just Want To Be Liked, and there’s a surprising softness to Sharleen’s delivery on the 1960s girl group homage Heaven Knows. This is far from a break-up album — Spiteri is happily married to Welsh TV chef Bryn Williams — but the latter is one of several songs with a yearning, lovelorn edge.
WHEN they tour next year, Texas plan to open their show by playing either White On Blonde or their 1989 debut album Southside in full. Into that nostalgic mix, they can now throw songs from a new album — a Blonde On White — that bristles with radio-friendly purpose and power. the quintet return with their first new album in 19 years, any suggestion of a rivalry on a par with the Nineties Britpop wars of Blur and Oasis would be wide of the mark.
Rather than bending over backwards to incorporate new styles, singer Justin Currie and guitarist Iain Harvie stick to traditional strengths on their seventh album Fatal Mistakes.
There’s nothing here as catchy as their biggest hits, Roll To Me or Kiss This Thing Goodbye, but the duo’s knack of blending biting lyrics with winning tunes remains.
As befits a band who wrote the most lugubrious football song ever — the 1998 Scottish World Cup single Don’t Come Home Too Soon — many numbers have a warm but browbeaten air. You Can’t Go Back, ironically written for the band’s 2018 reunion tour, is a rueful reflection on the passing of time that doubles up as a hard-bitten love song.
I’m So Scared Of Dying has a title that speaks for itself. Domestic drama Second Staircase treads a thin line between heartfelt and maudlin.
But there’s a tenderness at the core of these well-crafted songs. Mockingbird, Copy Me Now is all folky fiddle and harmonica, and Losing The Will To Die adds some welcome funk-rock ingredients.
And the excellent All Hail Blind Love takes the American highway rock of Eagles and transports it effortlessly to the banks of the Clyde.
■ Both albums out today. Del Amitri start a tour at St David’s hall, Cardiff, on Sept 13 (delamitri.info). texas begin their tour at Cork opera house on Feb 9, 2022 (texas.uk.com).