1.You Will You Won't (2:54) 2.Nobody Loves Me (3:13) 3.Times of Trouble (4:11) plus You Will You Won 't [video], Late Night Documentary.
Neither a first single nor an opening track, for a change, but the penultimate disc in my alphabetical sequence (the one after it is, of course, a later Zutons release). This Liverpudlian quintet caught my attention with their second single, 'Creepin' and A-Crawlin''. In fact I didn't know how many of them there were then, though their hometown would have been unmistakeable t even had I not heard that they were from the same Deltasonic stable as The Coral. I was so impressed with that one that I almost bought the follow-up 'Pressure Point' unheard - but then I did hear it and decided I didn't think much of it; it still went Top 20 without my help, and encouraged Radio 1 to playlist this fourth release (XFM completely ignored it oddly enough).
I was initially a little unsure what to make of You Will You Won't [the sleeve suggests that the elipsis belongs to the disc's title, but not the song's] and it was pretty much a spur-of-the-moment decision to buy it. Certainly it was more raucous than the record I already owned, but it never annoyed me the way 'Pressure Point' did. In less than three minutes it gives a quick precis of the band's most distinctive features: Abi Harding's parping sax riffs, Dave McCabe's rasping voice and some deranged guitars. And, yes, that does sound a lot like the Coral, although this is slightly more manic than that band's biggest hits. The lyrics are almost more of a chant, and if they mean anything it's about motivating oneself to do the right thing: "Your chest gets tight... The Devil's standing tall at the top of the hill/Pointing down his fork and betraying your will". I still don't know what a dipsydoodle rag is though. Perhaps the highlight is the moment when they down their instruments for one chorus, clapping along and by the sounds of things stamping on the studio floor for accompaniment; this hints at the reason for their reputation as a live act.
Less remarkable is Nobody Loves Me, a slightly more mid-tempo song with producer (and former Lightning Seed) Ian Broudie on piano. It's less whiny than the title might imply, though; the mood is a more resigned one, "Now there's nothing I can do/but sit and wait for you/my next lover" laments McCabe.
The band are in an even more relaxed mode for Times of Trouble - so relaxed, in fact, that they seem to run out of lyrics part of the way through. Although there isn't much to this song (and the fact that it was self-produced suggests it was never considered a possible album track) it's actually one of their most enjoyable mellow moments. Harding's sax remains very prominent, though in this case she's playing more of a solo than her usual interjections. McCabe tends to sing in a somewhat lower register on the slow songs.
Finally there's the enhanced section, including the video, an oddly dated confection based largely around multiple images of the band performing (no prizes for guessing that McCabe and Harding get more close-ups than the others). This is sometimes intercut with footage of them playing in a darkened forest, covered in dark makeup: presumably they're trying to look like demons, rather than the Black & White Minstrel Show. There's also a two-minute excerpt from a promotional interview, which I'll admit I had to watch a couple of times in order to understand the accents. There's not a huge amount of drama here, but there is some film of them playing 'Zuton Fever' live, and some (mute) footage from the 'Creepin an a-Crawlin' video. Anoraks may also notice (as I didn't until it was pointed out to me) that the graphics include the original version of the band's logo, which was slightly redrawn on the cover of this and subsequent records for copyright reasons. On a similar note, this CD also comes with a small poster, featuring the lyrics and a picture of the band made up as zombies.
Although this was only a minor hit single, it set the album up nicely for a Top 20 entry. The band were evidently a high priority for Sony that year, and a Mercury Prize nomination helped it reach the Top Ten later in the year. A later re-issue of the album added the hit single 'Don't Ever Think (Too Much)' [one of five they achieved that year] and pushed sales towards 200000.
ONLINE:
The Official
site is as lurid as you might imagine, and not suitible for slow connections. However, it suits their style, and you can see a the video and a little of the documentary as well.
There's also a sister site at Thezutonsusa.com, as part of the effort to break them through in America.
The most detailed unofficial site, is probably Zuton Fever although Thezutons.net seems slightly more up to date.
Back to the random single project