Blueboy - The Bank of England (2010 Reissue)

*Reissued in 2010 by Él/Cherry Red. 

This pressing Contains 13 tracks total.

Country: United Kingdom

Genre: Indie Pop

Label Number: ACMEM502CD

.FLAC via Florenfile

.AAC 256 kbps via Florenfile

© 1998-2010 Él/Cherry Red

The Bank of England Review by Dan LeRoy

The third and final outing from twee pop masters Blueboy marks an interesting, if ultimately somewhat disappointing, conclusion to the Reading, England, band's history. With three new members augmenting the core duo of Keith Girdler and Paul Stewart, the group cranks the guitars surprisingly loud on songs like "Jennifer Yeah!," and even more traditionally gentle songs like the charming single "Marco Polo" get a more aggressive rhythmic underpinning. The muscle isn't as intrusive as you'd first expect, but Girdler's vocals are sometimes a casualty, getting lost in the denser mix. Meanwhile, new vocalist Cath Close takes over the departed Gemma Davis' role as female foil, impressing on the atmospheric "Braford, Texas" but falling a trifle short on the somber, acoustic guitar-and-strings "Disco Bunny." Good as The Bank of England often is, it doesn't reach the heights attained consistently on the band's first album, or sporadically on the half-brilliant followup, Unisex. Following the release, the band retired from live performance, then split; Girdler and Stewart later regrouped, first as Arabesque, and then (with Close as a participant) as Beaumont.