Irish rockers NO SWEAT have delivered up a shrieking scorcher of a debut album. Having seen the band live, I was most anxious to get my hands on this piece of drastic plastic!
It's a record full of many gems. From the opening chords of "Heart and Soul to the closing crank of "Mover," this band just shimmer and shine. Golden guitar work and charismatic choruses permeate the grooves throughout, without the production trappings of high tech studio sap. Indeed, the magic touch of producer Keith Olson is most effective! Their sound has not been swamped by any production formula whatsoever, and they've retained an honesty on vinyl that translates perfectly to a live situation.
This is a band with an essential chemical combination. Paul Quinn's emotive vocal tones combined with some classy, sassy, six-string strings, courtesy of guitarists Dave Gooding and Jim Philips, weave a musical web that transcends any manufactured qualities the album could possess. "Shake," "Generation," and "Lean On Me" ripple and rattle into gear. Rock with an attitude, a band with a purpose! Keyboardist Paul Smith, bassist John Angel, and drummer Ray Fean augment this crescending cantata with thorough tightness within the context of each individual song.
Collective comparisons with BON JOVI spring to mind on heari ng "Stay," "Water Flow," and "Tear Down the Walls" at first, but you soon realise that these elaborate epics display an aggressive hard rockin; edge that gives them a one-up on the American superstars! Commercially commanding, musically morphotic, No Sweat are hot property - it's true. Balladic AOR stompers "Over the Edge" and "Stranger" are good single choices by my reckoning, although it's quite evident that the band's bluesy jazzy influences hint at the shape of things to come.
Soulfully spontaneous, this is solid stuff! An essential buy and most certainly one of the most inspiring debut albums to come out this year.
Grade: 9/10
Mark Crampton
It's a record full of many gems. From the opening chords of "Heart and Soul to the closing crank of "Mover," this band just shimmer and shine. Golden guitar work and charismatic choruses permeate the grooves throughout, without the production trappings of high tech studio sap. Indeed, the magic touch of producer Keith Olson is most effective! Their sound has not been swamped by any production formula whatsoever, and they've retained an honesty on vinyl that translates perfectly to a live situation.
This is a band with an essential chemical combination. Paul Quinn's emotive vocal tones combined with some classy, sassy, six-string strings, courtesy of guitarists Dave Gooding and Jim Philips, weave a musical web that transcends any manufactured qualities the album could possess. "Shake," "Generation," and "Lean On Me" ripple and rattle into gear. Rock with an attitude, a band with a purpose! Keyboardist Paul Smith, bassist John Angel, and drummer Ray Fean augment this crescending cantata with thorough tightness within the context of each individual song.
Collective comparisons with BON JOVI spring to mind on heari ng "Stay," "Water Flow," and "Tear Down the Walls" at first, but you soon realise that these elaborate epics display an aggressive hard rockin; edge that gives them a one-up on the American superstars! Commercially commanding, musically morphotic, No Sweat are hot property - it's true. Balladic AOR stompers "Over the Edge" and "Stranger" are good single choices by my reckoning, although it's quite evident that the band's bluesy jazzy influences hint at the shape of things to come.
Soulfully spontaneous, this is solid stuff! An essential buy and most certainly one of the most inspiring debut albums to come out this year.
Grade: 9/10
Mark Crampton
Riff Raff
July 1990
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