Tired of Hanging Around
The surprise success story of the "Scousadelic" Liverpool scene, onTired of Hangin' Aroundthe Zutons trump their debut with an assured, confident collection of songs that accentuate their skill for vintage R&B, white-man soul, and some of the best rowdy sax since the Specials strode the earth. Perhaps in retrospect it's easy to see why this band have struck the public nerve in the way the Coral and the Bandits never quite could. No spooked, surrealist pirate swashbucklers here--the Zutons' songs are grounded in the here and now, numbers like "It's the Little Things We Do", the sound of frontman Dave McCabe weaving an unsteady path from barstool to barstool with dwindling pay-cheque clutched in fist, or "Valerie"--a message to an ex-lover reminiscent of the tattered majesty of the Faces in their garrulous heyday. Much improved is Abi Harding's saxophone work, now capable of sensitive, jazzy undertones ("You've Got a Friend in Me") or sudden bursts of nutty, bandy-legged strut, and McCabe's soulful vocal is neatly bolstered by full-band backing vocals that add an enjoyably cabaret sense of drama to even the twitchiest blast of skiffle-punk. The sound of a band coming on in leaps and bounds.--Louis Pattison