Review:

on 2011-03-27 CharlesMartel Said:

Catherine Wheel were one of the great unsung bands of the early 90's. Along with The Milltown Brothers, Adorable and Whipping Boy, they produced a couple of great albums. Then the next two disappeared into the miasma but Catherine Wheel kept going and their fifth release was "Wishville". Now, as bands go, five albums in is pretty good, but really one wonders if they should not have stopped years ago. I mean, this is as far from the startling originality of their original work as one can get.

It's not as if this is bad, it's just formulaic. OK, on some tracks (notably the awful "Idle Life") they lose it big time, but there really is nothing here to hold the attention of the listener beyond the opening chords of each song. I suppose for that they should be commended for producing an album of such instantly forgettable music. I have heard this over half a dozen times now and apart from the aforementioned "Idle Life" and "Sparks Are Gonna Fly" (for different reasons) nothing sticks. A successful album needs to resonate with the listener. Their first two albums did it perfectly. This does not. In order to achieve that there are some key features which are needed. The first are a decent batch of songs. Songs are what are severely lacking on this album. Not a memorable melody to share between them.

Rob Dickinson's vocals still resonate with an almost breathless quality, but the material he works with is nothing special. Sacking the bassist just before recording and dividing his role up among the surviving band members was not a good idea either. And Tim Friese-Green's lifeless production does nothing to enhance the album and is way beyond any pretence of salvaging it. Catherine Wheel were shoegazers who, it seemed, never really wanted to be. They gradually moved away from the strict shoegazer tag, but never really picked up on an alternative peg on which to hang their metaphorical hat. Their two albums of the late nineties, "Adam and Eve" and "Happy Days", saw them drift aimlessly. But with "Wishville" they seemed to have lost all direction. The moodiness has become maudlin; the riffs have become commonplace; and the lyrics have lost their edge.

The result is a maddening album. Maddening because the band clearly still has the potential but seems unable to deliver on it. The drama of their first two albums has gone, and with it, all that it was which made their initial output such a joy to listen to. It almost seems as if the band had given up, producing one last work simply to fulfil some contractual obligation they had signed up to years ago. This is a band who once could deliver now simply going through the motions. Oh, well, I guess that with time the fire has gone. Any intensity dwindles quickly. Any interest, fades with little hope of resurrection.

For a swan song album then, this is a travesty, given what Catherine Wheel were able to achieve with their first two albums. Where is the soaring beauty of "Black Metallic"; the original and captivating concept behind "The Nude"; or the eerie lovelorn loneliness of "Crank"? If you're going to go out, at least go out with a bang. Instead Catherine Wheel went out with a feeble whimper. An undignified end to what had been a great start.
Rating: 5/10