For a long time now I’ve wanted to love British Sea Power, not only do they have a cool name and a great image, they’re not short of accolades either with many a comparison being made to The Pixies, Psychedelic Furs and Joy Division. However having seen them play live on numerous occasions and having purchased their two albums to date, ‘The Decline of British Sea Power’ and ‘Open Season’ respectively I’ve just never managed to embrace BSP the way I think I should do; sure, both albums have a handful of songs I think rock but the general sound is often too abrasive to sustain itself over a long player – well it is for me anyways.
At least that’s how I felt until I heard ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ the band’s third and finest collection of songs to date. ‘No Lucifer’ being the most significant here and worthy of the crown for the best 3 minutes BSP have ever put to tape with its chants of “Easy, Easy” – a tribute to the British wrestler known as Big Daddy – over an uplifting and anthemic wall of noise. This is then followed by the eerie choral-rock of, ‘Waving Flags’, with its lyrics drooling with charm; “You are astronomical fans of alcohol, So welcome in”, couldn’t have put it better myself old chap!
Elsewhere on the record we’re treated to songs about floods on Canvey Island, economic migration, Slavia Prague FC, and of course no BSP album would be complete without a few ditties about the Apocalypse now would it! On occasion the band do sound like they’re trying a little too hard to sound stadium-sized, particularly on the albums bookends, ‘All In It’ and ‘We Close Our Eyes’ – it’s not that these tracks are bad, more so they just seem a little surplus to requirements: like they’ve been fixed on to the beginning and end in order to give the album some sort of conceptual feel, as if to elevate it to a high brow status. It has the opposite effect, giving the album a relatively weak opening and indifferent closure, when the material in between is so strong and accessible.