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Pay To Join (Radio Edit) / Can Of Worms
GENUINE RECORDS
Still resolutely stuck in a retro rock groove, Little Barrie return here with PAY TO JOIN, the latest single to be lifted from their taut and invigorating STAND YOUR GROUND album.
Split between recordings sessions in New York with co-producer Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura and in London with producer Mike Pelancoli STAND YOUR GROUND is an album that feels like an explosion of Mod power, bringing to mind Hamburg era Beatles, not to mention The Sonics, The White Stripes, Booker T And The MG's and The Who when they were young, hungry and at their prime. PAY TO JOIN is a bass rumbling slice of funky guitar pop that plays out with Little Barrie's usual MO of class, style and distinction. The slinky flipside CAN OF WORMS is the real star of the show here though, a song that imagines Booker T And The MG's jamming with Bobby Womack; an authentic sounding slice of Motown era funky soul that finds Little Barry firing on all cylinders.
Still banging out retro mod like it never went out of fashion, Little Barry continue to whip up a funky storm with PAY TO JOIN, another single packed full of class, distinction and wired energy.
BIOGRAPHY
In a culture that celebrates excess it takes a true visionary to strip things back to the core energy. Little Barrie has that vision. Coming from a great tradition of less-is-more expression that has marked out all of the defining musical developments, they are worthy of a place alongside the true mavericks in the history of popular music.
Take Presley's earliest bride stripped bare blues-as-rock'n'roll shenanigans, or Bolan's simplified Glam boogie. Then there's Captain Beefheart's exploration of the blues reduced to their hidden psychotic core, James Brown's minimal expressions of R&B and gospel and Bootsy Collins' ability to bring funk down to the on-the-one bass line.The list is long and impressive. In fact, from the blues to hip hop, rock to electro, funk to techno, music's most powerful voices have come from those people who are prepared to strip away the excess and get back to the essence.
Meet Little Barrie, a trio whose entire ethos has lying at its heart a stripped-to-the-bone rootsy groove. Little Barrie consists of Barrie Cadogan (guitar and vocals), Wayne Fulwood (drums, backing vocals and sometime lead vocals) and Lewis Wharton (bass). Together the trio fuses numerous influences, boiling them down to a core sound that evades simple categorization and avoids mere historical naval gazing.
"We Are Little Barrie," their 13-song strong debut, was recorded over the course of 23 afternoons in Edwyn Collins' London studio with Edwyn himself at the controls and even playing on a couple of songs.
Edwyn declares Little Barrie as: "astonishingly mature in their references and ability... Barrie himself is really quite inspirational, probably the best guitarist of his generation."
Continues Edwyn, "In fact on my last album I'd got into contemporary cut and paste studio techniques and hung up my guitar, but Barrie's inspired me to start playing again. Not only because of his ability but also because of his absolute commitment to playing which is almost palpable. His knowledge of guitar music is encyclopedic."
Little wonder then that when Morrissey's usual guitarist Alain Whyte was taken ill Mozzer recruited Barrie's talents at the twelfth hour for his Summer 2004 tour.
Fashioned from the heart of rock'n'roll, funk and the blues "We Are Little Barrie" finds the band drawing deep into themselves to capture an authenticity that is absent in most contemporary bands. And as a result they've discovered a rich vein of emotional and passionate booty.
"We're not worried about being the latest thing. We're just about having the fire and the passion. Follow your own thing and eventually people will come round - that's what we believe," explains Barrie.
At a last, a band to believe in.
LINE UP
Barrie Cadogan>vocals/guitar
Lewis Wharton>bass
Billy Skinner>drums
Russell Simins>drums
DISCOGRAPHY
SHRUG OFF LOVE (Stark>2000)
Shrug Off Love
Reply Me
DON'T CALL IT THE TRUTH (Stark>2001)
Don't Call It The Truth
Give Me A Microphone
MEMORIES WELL (Stark>2001)
Memories Well
Didn't Really Mean A Thing
BURNED OUT (Show 1>2002)
Burned Out
Buy My Style
LITTLE BARRIE EP (Gen>2004)
Burned Out
Be The One
Thinking On The Mind
Mud Sticks (cd Only)
Thinking On The Mind (aspects Remix)
FREE SALUTE (Gen>2005)
Free Salute
Didn't Mean A Thing (Vinyl Only)
Buy My Style(CD Only)
Stones Throw Instrumental (CD Only)
WE ARE LITTLE BARRIE (Gen>2005)
Free Salute
Burned Out
Greener Pastures
Be The One
Please Tell Me
Well And Truly Done
Stone Reprise
Stones Throw
Long Hair
Thinking On The Mind
Move On So Easy
Living In And Out Of Place
Freeprise
LONG HAIR (Gen>2005)
Long Hair (Radio Version)
Long Hair (Stereo MC's 7" Edit) (CD Only)
Long Hair (Extended Version) (Vinyl Only)
Once Upon A Lie (Demo)
GREENER PASTURES (Gen>2005)
Greener Pastures (Radio Edit)
Burned Out (DJ Nu-Mark Remix)
Greener Pastures (Live At The Ab Club, Belgium) (CD Only)
PIN THAT BADGE EP (GENUINE RECORDS EP)
Pin That Badge
Green Eyed Fool
LOVE YOU (Genuine Records>2006)
Love You
If I Don't Have To Answer
I Wonder Whether (Demo)
STAND YOUR GROUND (Genuine Records>2007)
Bailing Out
Love You
Pin That Badge
Yeah We Know You
Green Eyed Fool
Pretty Pictures
Cash In
Just Wanna Play
You Don't You Do It
Pay To Join
PAY TO JOIN (Genuine Records>2007)
Pay To Join (Radio Edit)
Can Of Worms
LINKS
Little Barrie>www.littlebarrie.com
FURTHER LISTENING
Paul Weller
The Small Faces
The Who
Review date: May 2007 |
