With a history that stretches back to 1987, The Chemistry Set have wide experience, and an even more expansive collection of influences.
From The Move and The Beatles to Dream Syndicate and Thee Hypnotics, they dabble in areas of late 60s quirkiness plus the density of the two subsequent decades. The combination can be exotic (The Fountains Of Neptune), or eccentric (certainly the case on Crawling Back To You), or deftly melodic, as on The Splendour Of The Universe and Come Kiss Me Vibrate And Smile. But throughout there’s the joyous vibe of a band who really care about their art, but are also relaxed enough to have fun. At times, they seem to lose a little perspective. For instance, International Rescue comes over as too much of a combination of The Beatles’ I Feel Fine and Day Tripper, while Albert Hoffman tries overly hard to be a musical acid trip. But even there, they get away with such things because of a genuine exuberance and dedication. The Endless More And More represents what can be achieved when you take a genre such as psychedelia, which you’d think had been rinsed dry by now, yet approach it with an expertise and passion.
