Audio CD review:
Ballboy - Club Anthems

Ballboy - Club Anthems

Band: Ballboy Title: Club Anthems Rating: Release Date: 05 February, 2002 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: I Hate Scotland 2: Essential Wear For Future Trips To Space 3: Sex Is Boring 4: Donald In The Bushes With A Bag Of Glue 5: Olympic Cyclist (Acoustic Version) 6: I've Got Pictures Of You In Your Underwear 7: One Sailor Was Waving 8: Swim For Health 9: They'll Hang Flags from Cranes Upon My Wedding Day 10: Postcards From The Beach... 11: Dumper Truck Racing 12: Public Park 13: Day In Space 14: Leave The Earth Behind You And Take A Walk Into The Sunshine

Editoral Review Club Anthems isn't a trance collection. Don't be fooled by the ironic title. This compilation of Ballboy's last three EPs chronicles an outfit poised between the wide-eyed philosophical Looper and the darker, melancholy Arab Strap. Club Anthems is a very Scottish album, but it's frontman Gordon McIntyre's spoken vocals--funny, poignant, heavy with pathos--that help Ballboy rise above simple pastiche. "One Sailor Was Waving" explodes grim Scottish fatalism into a celebratory adrenaline rush, MacIntyre wearing the line "I'm not the brightest hope/ I'm not the shining light/ Of my generation" like a badge of victory. Meanwhile, the stark, expansive, two-chord "I Hate Scotland" scribbles bratty discontent over Ballboy's cultural heritage. "I hate the way we expect to fail," sneers McIntyre, "and then we fail, and we get bitter because we failed. " Well, this album proves that's just not true. --Louis Pattison .. You can see a complete list of all Ballboy discography, or go back to the Ballboy tabs