Maximo Park - MissingSongs

Thu 19th Jan, 2006 in Music Reviews

There are several ways in which a band can prolong heading into the studio to work on a ‘difficult second album’ following a successful debut. Some may release the same album again, albeit in remix form (hello Bloc Party). Others may choose to re-release said album with a bonus DVD or live disc. Some put out a stand-alone DVD full of live concerts and drunken backstage tomfoolery (Jet, Kaiser Chiefs). But some prefer to simply plug the album before the band implodes – I’m looking at you, Stone Roses.

But quintessentially English five-piece Maximo Park have decided to instead follow up 2005 Mercury Music Prize nominated debut long player A Certain Trigger with Missing Songs, an 11-track set of demos and b-sides previously only available on UK-only singles. It’s fair to say that the success of the band’s September 2005 Australian tour – lauded by punters and critics alike as one of the better rock shows of the year – was at least partly responsible for Missing Songs getting a local release, but the disc is clearly intended for non-European markets, where getting singles by “hotly tipped British rockers” is a scarcity.

The main problem with A Certain Trigger was the album’s production – behind the over produced guitars, tinny drums and over-dubbed vocals lay a collection of songs that, live, were brought to live with passion, conviction and unbridled enthusiasm on the band’s part (not so mention some killer robot dance moves).

While the same problem occurs here, having seen the band live before, one can appreciate the songs in a different light. And while nothing here reaches the lofty, legendary b-side status of the likes of Radiohead’s Talk Show Host or Oasis’ Acquiesce - both live stapes in the band’s live shows to this day – it’s clear that the Maximo Park boys can certainly write a decent tune.

A19 is a power charged pop gem along the same lines of Apply Some Pressure. “A19, we can’t settle down / the same attitude engulfs this country,” sings Paul Smith before adding “my only aspirations were those held on an A4 printout.”

Smith’s knack for a clever lyric has never been in doubt and it’s clear to see that his ability is not diminished when writing for a single flipside. Isolation runs for scant more than a minute, the track highlighted by some punchy keyboard.

Fear of Falling – given the live treatment on the band’s recent tour – is fleshed out enough to have easily appeared on the record. A Zutons-inspired solo, haunting harmonies and some typical Smith lyrical stylings (“your love is good for me / we never overreach / for fear of falling”). I Want You to Leave (not to be confused with A Certain Trigger’s I Want You to Stay) starts out as a glam-rock stomper before undergoing a Take Me Out-style personality pickup a minute in over which Smith howls “I want to see you dance / tell me all the things that make you laugh.”

The Maximo Park by-numbers tracks over with, the further four unreleased tracks each offer something new for the casual listener. A Year of Doubt is punctuated by some jangly lo-fi guitars and comes across sounding like a discarded Belle and Sebastian tale of young love (“I want by the factory gates / for you to finish your shift”) while the rough Trial and Error is a true demo, a half-baked idea pinned down by a steady drum beat. Stray Talk is just Smith and an acoustic while Hammer Horror steals the bass line from Blur’s Country House and morphs it into one of the most aggressive tracks Maximo Park has committed to tape. “There’s still a sea between us / and our island has collapsed / return your vessel to the shore,” Smith implores.

Rounding out the CD, ‘original demo versions’ of album tracks Apply Some Pressure, Graffiti and Once, A Glimpse - three of the album’s definitive high points – differ little from the polished studio offerings sans recording qualities.

Although Missing Songs is, you will be pleasantly surprised to note, a mid-price compilation, punters in the UK and local obsessives who shelled out for the import singles may feel short-changed with this release as the very notion of a “limited edition single” implies that the songs are to be owned by hardcore fans and hardcore fans only. But that aside, Missing Songs serves as a semi-essential accompaniment for A Certain Trigger and serves to tide fans over until the band’s sophomore effort, due late 2006.

Hey, it could have been a helluva lot worse – it could have been A Certain Trigger – The Remix Album.