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Without George: Without George
Review: A journey through all different types of music.
While it may not have attracted the same number of reviews or interviews as the likes of 22 Dreams or Dig Out Your Soul; Without George, the self-titled debut album from Connemara band Without George, is just as good, if not better than the aforementioned albums.
Without George is a 40-minute journey through all different types of music, whether it’s folk, rock, country, jazz, blues, funk or pop. The songs are all short blasts of two, three or four minutes, but they beautifully capture the band’s spirit of “having the craic, and trying to put it into words”, as lead singer and guitarist Mark Spellman said in an exclusive interview with SpunOut.ie.
The band have had an impressive roster of recently and are managed excellently by ex-Saw Doctor Pearse Doherty. Without George have supported Bell X1, The Stunning, The Saw Doctors and Blondie in the Galway Arts Festival. They also played The Salty Dog Stage at Electric Picnic this year. The charisma and stage presence of Spellman was keenly felt and he had whipped the crowd into a frenzy before Debbie Harry & Co. took to the stage.
While at times it sounds like the band is just having fun, many of the songs contain blistering attitude, none more so than “Terrible Shame”, “Some People”, “Say What You Got” and “Running Out.”
“Some People” is the album's best track. It displays a real no-nonsense attitude to whatever it is that pisses the band off– the line “It’s the old, I want, to be your friend, what part of no don’t you understand? Why should I have to think it through, please! I want nothin’ to do with you” is something that everyone can relate to.
“Say What You Got”, which sounds “like the soundtrack to a gangster movie with James Woods”, according to guitarist Johnny Holleran, features Spellman ad-libbing a monologue that sounds like a mob movie as does “Wild town”, with Spellman providing an intro like The Dukes of Hazzard. Spellman’s vocals are strong throughout, the album is crammed with great stuff. “Running Out” is like Springsteen trying to make a pop song and begins with a wonderful Tenor Saxophone intro.
“Red” is another departure and is the hardest-rocking song on the album. The album lags here, along with “Done”, but comes back brilliantly with “Running Out”. Without George closes with the American-sounding “Shotgun”, then two bluesy numbers: “Ain’t My Lady”, and “Carli’s Alibi.” “On My Way” which starts off sounding very country is another great track.
There is a willingness by the band to try anything, which is demonstrated by the sheer volume of different instruments used on the record. When performing live and not doing acoustic gigs, they use three guitars and a base. The album however has trumpet, fiddle, banjo, piano and more.
There are of course some problems with the album that are to be expected from an unknown band’s debut. At times, the lyrics can either be clunky or they simply run out and the space is filled with either a jam session, or “Ba-Ba’s” as on “Some People”. That said, for the most part the lyrics are very good. Another defect in the album is their obvious low production costs. This is also to be expected. However, at times the songs can sound a bit bare as compared to their live electric sets.
Overall this is a wonderful debut album by a funny, engaging and charismatic band. I just hope they will go further than talking to the likes of me!
Rating: 8.5/10.
Without George is now out in all good record stores, itunes, Napster, eMusic, Amazon and on MP3 format.
Without George Online:
Website: http://www.withoutgeorge.com
Bebo: http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=5736622921
By: Ciaran Leinster
