Earl Brutus really should have been bigger. Formed in Glasgow in the early 1990s and featuring among their line-up the late Nick Sanderson and Jamie Fry, younger brother of ABC’s Martin, they might well have endured if they’d opted for a more earnest self-presentation rather than the excessive, raucously proposition they actually were – combustible, but much more fun.
There’s plenty of homage on Your Majesty… We Are Here (8⁄10) and Tonight You Are The Special One (8⁄10), two albums from 1996 and 1998 respectively, which splash hectically somewhere between stomp-rock and electropop, with homages to both Alice Cooper (Navyhead) and Kraftwerk.
I’m New clatters on the road to rock’n’roll oblivion like a breakneck juggernaut, while The SAS And The Glam That Goes With It is the sort of essential waste product that the north is great at and the south can’t quite get its head around.
There are bonus tracks here, including live outings such as Nicotine, which hint at the dirty epic spectacle they presented live. They played like there was no tomorrow but 20 years on, they still sound futureproof.
