1. The Truth Hurts
2. Ordinary Girl ****top track tip
3. Punx Unired ****top track tip
4. Sniffing Glue
5. Old Skool
6. On Your Own
7. Starvation Box
8. Identity Crisis
9. Dear Joe
10. Basement Life
11. Stab In The Dark
12. Water
13. Goodnight England
Recorded at Sci Fidelity Studios, London / Produced by Beki Bond and Paul Rooney
Mixed and engineered by Paul Rooney / All songs written by Bond / Rooney except tracks 10 and 13 Bond
Musicians:
Beki Bond - Lead Vocals and guitar / Paul Rooney - guitar, backing vocals / Wayne Firefly - bass, backing vocals / Bongo Bastard - drums
REVIEW
This CD isn't a new release - it came out in 2009 - but it IS new to me (as is "Defiant"), so you get to hear my thoughts on it:
I like London Underground a lot. It is one of those rare occasions when you get a CD / album and you actually genuinely like all the songs on it and you don't rush to skip through to your favourites avoiding certain less appealing tracks.
As a keen Vice Squad follower from the early days (Last Rockers EP on vinyl - got it) who managed to miss out on the reforming of the band in the late 90s due to living abroad and working in "pop music radio", it has taken me a few plays to get used to Beki's more mature and richer sounding voice. Let's face it, I don't sound like I used to in 1980 so why should she...?
This CD has a mature quality to it - a more rounded sound - more depth to my mind than "Defiant"- think more "Stand Strong Stand Proud" than "No Cause For Concern"....
As you'd expect, the writing is superb with lots of social comment. My own favourites are the more melodic tracks such as "Ordinary Girl" and "Starvation Box". We have a guitar ballad - "Goodnight London", a tribute to Joe Strummer - "Dear Joe" and a great rousing anthem in "Punx United".
So much is written about the "original" Vice Squad that it is incredible to think that this "new" line up with Beki and Paul Rooney has actually now been going for twice as long as the first incarnation.
The band are currently working on a new album which will, hopefully, come out later this year but in the meantime, do check out "London Underground", and "Defiant" and all the other great Vice Squad CDs and goodies that are available from the offcial website. If you buy direct from there, the money goes straight to the band with no middle men taking a cut.
To buy this CD - and see other Vice Squad merchandise, click here: http://www.vicesquad.co.uk/vicesquadshop/londonundergroun.html
