divine thing

thought i'd use this monday morning to revisit one of my favorite albums from the nineties. i'm talking about Hotwired by scotland's Soup Dragons. with only one album left in them after this one, the group had fully fleshed out their pop rock sounds in the direction of many uk alternative acts by embracing the influnce of dancier music. the band had hinted at it earlier on their album Lovegod, which many dismissed as sounding too much like Primal Scream. imitation is no stranger to the Soup Dragons who began as a blantantly Buzzcocks-esque pop-punk band that then on their second album moved towards a heavier guitar sound, gaining popularity behind a Rolling Stones cover, but it was this co-opting of the madchester fallout that led to the groups best album. perhaps it was moderation as Hotwired wasn't as clubby as Lovegod and even balanced things with a few inovations for them including some gospel inspired bits, but what did remain was themes that continued to embrace the personal freedoms implied in many club tunes from that time. numerous critics would remark that it was with Hotwired that the Soup Dragons finally lived up to their potential, but curiously frontman sean dickson replaced the entire band for their next album despite hitting this stride. the following was the big hit off the album. it never fared well here in the states, but i caught a video towards the end of 120 Minutes one night and fell in love with it and then the album...a precursor to a familar brit-pop phase in my music listening.

Soup Dragons "Divine Thing"