1.Seven Days In The Sun [radio edit] (3:31) 2.Just A Day (4:03) 3.Home For Summer (2:56)
Maybe the cheapest single I've ever bought, and not my most enthusiastic purchase ever. In fact, I paid 30p for it, chiefly because it was packaged in a double-CD case and Laura needed one for an NT Greek pronunciation CD (which turned out to be useless anyway, but that's another story).
I can't claim that I was very keen on Seven Days In The Sun when it first appeared as the follow-up to Feeder's hideous Top 5 single 'Buck Rogers'. They're a band I was always quite cold about, frankly, and this rather ridiculous effort didn't do much to change my mind. The intro is dramatic (especially as the disc seems to be mastered very loud), it motors along with moderate effectiveness, and although the lyrics are stupid (famously: She's got this friend whose name is Paula/ He likes to cross-dress every Friday night in clothes from Prada.") at least it's probably intentional this time. Nonetheless, comparision with Ash's 'Burn Baby Burn' (released as a single in the same week) was not flattering. By the way, the packaging informs me that the album version of the track, featured on CD2, is eight seconds longer.
For once, the show is stolen by the B-side. By the time I picked this out of the bargain bin, Just A Day had already been given a single release of its own off the back of its use in the computer game Gran Turismo 3, and apparently become the band's biggest seller. It's a very energetic romp, slightly reminiscent of their earlier hit 'Insomnia' but with even more punch, and is that a kazoo I can hear? By far my favourite track in the band's discography. This version is the full-length one, featuring an additional intro not heard on the radio edit.
There's also a certain charm to the acoustic song Home For Summer, though it's not particularly exciting to these ears.
Feeder had a fairly successful 2001, with another minor hit ('Turn', not the same song as the Travis one obviously) and the hit album Echo Park. Sadly, drummer Jon Lee took is own life in January 2002 while the aforementioned 'Just A Day' single was still in the charts. The band returned with their most successful release, Comfort In Sound but understandably were never this light-hearted again. Both the B-sides from this CD are on the online-only compilation A Picture Of Perfect Youth, if you want them.
ONLINE:
The Official
site is in the image of their current album, Pushing the Senses. Rather annoyingly, weblinks are only available to registered users.
I did, however, manage to find ffs, a rather enjoyable unofficial site, which is written with enough style and humour to entertain even a non-fan like me. It's informative too - did you know they had two completely different songs called 'Come Back Around'?
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