The Basics – /ðə’bæzɪtʃ/ : Album Reviews

Regardless of your thoughts on local lads The Basics and their oft-changing musical directions, you can’t deny the band’s live presence.

Their gig audiences have ballooned over the years; when they might have played the cosy Empress, they can now easily fill the Northcote Social Club.

My point is this: the boys of the Basics put on a damn good show. So it was only natural (“that I should want to be there with you…” – Crowded House, anyone? Anyone?) that the band release this, a self-titled live album (the title is how the band’s name sounds phonetically, hence the odd typeface) spanning their years of musical ingenuity and charm.

It sounds like I’m kissing arse here, but this is an awesome album by a bloody awesome band, savvy? Don’t believe me – then just take a listen for yourself…

THE BASICS – FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD

Opening with most recent single, The No. 1 Cause of Death Amongst Youth Today from Keep Your Friends Close, it becomes immediately apparent the effort that has been put into this recording. It’s nice and clear, for one; there’s nothing worse than a live album where all you can hear is guffawing punters and clinking glasses and the vaguest microphone feedback from somewhere where a stage might be in the distance.

Secondly, the band are putting their all into their songs and The Basics (that’d be Kris Schroeder on vocals and bass, Wally DeBacker on drums and vocals and Tim Heath on vocals and guitar, plus guests to come, including “ghost member” Dave Bramble on keys) are off and running.

Following is Better, a much-requested live favourite from 2007’s Stand Out/ Fit In, which includes within some brilliant live guitar work from Mister Heath, as well as a dramatic rock breakdown from DeBacker on the skins. “Thank you, Adelaide!” Heath jokes at the song’s end. Ah, another notable note on the Basics: they’re funny buggers.

Like A Brother and Second Best follow (the end of which sees DeBacker already bleeding from such forceful drumming; “It’s just a flesh wound!” someone yells) but it is with Stand Out/ Fit In’s Sonics cover of Have Love, Will Travel that the crowd is whipped into a rock frenzy- as well as the band.

There isn’t a huge dip into the band’s pre-Stand Out/ Fit In/ Tim Heath days, but Getback’s [2004] What Have You Done? gets a good look-in, as well as a ripper of a guitar solo around the two-minute mark. “Hang on, I don’t know this one” DeBacker jokes as the flicking guitar strings indicate the opening of SO/FI’s fierce opener Rattle My Chain.

The as-yet unrecorded number- a live favourite- Feels Like Love slows the disc down as the guitar gets wailing, the drumbeats slower, the vocals more forlorn (Schroeder taking a nice crooning lead here) and the punters get a chance to give their feet a rest. Although the spelling annoys me to no end, U R The 1 is a great also unrecorded track; a fun, only slightly dark pop song with boozy horns and some strong vocal work from Schroeder once again.

SO/FI’s Beatles cover Three Cool Cats and Lookin’ Over My Shoulder (in its original ragga-esque form, which I enjoy less than its rockier reworking, but whaddya do?) come next, but it is …Close’s Schroeder-penned The Executioner that grabs the crowd by its collective balls.

The last song before the ever-obvious encore, it is an ambitious move to put a six-minute song of such emotional intensity at this junction but, as we know, the Basics seem to make their own rules and the crowd seem happy to follow. It has wrangled its way into many of my more heartbroken days; the line: “I’ve been walkin’ death row…” seems to send a chill through me every time as Schroeder tells the tale of love gone wrong- the oldest in the book, but also the most common we must face. Love stinks!

Anyway, The Executioner is beautifully executed with smooth, velvety horns and all the trimmings to a brilliant climax and the off-stage fake-out is brought back with Just Hold On, a song that has remained a constant favourite for many years now. A perfect pop song, Just Hold On is fast, cheery and a sing-along delight with lead vocals by DeBacker and Heath and Schroeder harmonizing: lovely.

One thing you might have noticed about The Basics in the past years is their odd and wonderful choices of covers. Obvious fits like the aforementioned Cats and Have Love… work to a tee, but the boys like a challenge.

I’ve heard (only once, unfortunately) the band cover Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s Ebony and Ivory, as well as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s As Long As I Can See The Light, The Police’s Roxanne (to much crowd adoration) and other famous favourites. The Basics always manage to put their distinctive spin on any song they decide to replicate, and I so often end up preferring their version. No offence to Creedence; I still love ya, guys.

Tonight they finish their live recording with a much-requested and ever-enjoyed cover of New Kids on the Block’s The Right Stuff. I don’t know what the boys’ motivation for covering a cheesy boy band hit was, but I’m glad they did it.