thesubways-allornothing music reviews Virgin Media
Bright young things prove love can’t tear them apart
In 2005, when The Subways debut album Young For Eternity came out, Billy Lunn and Charlotte Cooper were the apple-cheeked prom king and queen of three-piece power pop. They sounded like they were on trampolines as they sang and their first big single, Oh Yeah, contained the line, "these teenage years, no they don't last," which, even at the time, seemed like it might be more prophetic than it was intended.
So it proved. Billy and Charlotte split up during the making of this album and Billy's excellent lyrics are full of intriguing clues to what went wrong. Instead of being a bitter, break-up record, though, it's got a bright, clean energy that comes from more than just Butch Vig's characteristically dynamic production. Tracks like Shake! Shake! crash and fizz gloriously like a tide of Lucozade hitting the rocks.
Even on Turnaround, where Billy essays a "metal" vocal, there's so much energy that it's hard to believe The Subways could ever be down for long.
More to try:
Nirvana: Nevermind
Ash: Nu-Clear Sounds
Foo Fighters: The Colour And The Shape
Feeder: Comfort In Sound
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