Ok, so I finally got around to giving this a serious listen and I can say this is highly recommended and is of the same high quality as the previous RSD release, Moseley Shoals: beautiful flat vinyl (green this time) and superb sound (although clearly sourced from digital). This thing is very dynamic and can be played at very loud volume with no fatique. Ocean Colour Scene fan and vinyl listener? Just get it!
New interview with Simon... I liked this bit: "And the idea is to start writing a new album now.” Yes, finally! I was getting worried. This has been the longest, by far, they've gone between albums.
I first discovered the band with their debut album, and in particular, this very song, "Sway", which I still love to this day. They would certainly change their sound with their following albums, but I continued to dig them.
Steve teased that they're putting out a 4-song EP (all new songs) on vinyl, sold through their shows later this year. Kinda bummed it's only 4 songs since they've gone so long without any new materiel. Still, I better freaking be able to score a copy somehow!
It's possible that it's a 4-song teaser from an upcoming album that'll come out next year. Other bands have done this.
Cover for the 4-song EP... They say it'll be a 10" vinyl sold at shows, though that picture is clearly a CD. Who wants to go to an OCS show this December and buy me one?
Here's a very favorable review of the new EP. (why can't we listen to any of the songs!) ...and a new interview with Steve.
Hey, I just got over you The world's a bigger place A better place than you And hey, I've just found my head head in a bigger space head in a better place
4-song EP out today! You can hear them on the typical streaming sites. 10" vinyl will be available at their shows, and left-overs copies after the tour will be sold on their website. The 4 songs, or re-recordings of them, will likely be on the new full album out in mid-2019.
I still only have one Ocean Colour Scene proper album and one B-sides collection, Moseley Shoals and B-Sides, Seasides and Freerides. Loved both and played them so much back in 1997, but faded away from following them after reading so much good about Marchin' Already but never being able to actually find a copy back in those pre-internet days.
It came out on vinyl last RSD. I don’t know if they’re still around and what the price will be, but I do know it sounds really good and it’s a great album.
IMO their debut album is unfairly maligned. I always considered "Is She Coming Home" to be one of their best tracks Is She Coming Home
Maligned by the band themselves, mostly. They NEVER seem to play a single song off it live. The songs are fine, it's the production that kills it.
There's not a thing wrong with the production on that album, and it works for me just fine. What's more likely the story is that they were perhaps pushed to sound a certain way - i.e. what the label thought was "happening" at the time - and it may not have been what the band truly wanted to sound like, but they went along with it. (Kind of like Blur or Radiohead with their first albums as opposed to the rest.) I can respect that, if it's the case, and judging by how different their follow-ups sounded, it may likely be.
I doubt it was just the sound they were unhappy with, mostly due to how they've ignored every song on the album since putting out their 2nd album (save for re-recording Justine as a b-side). Blur, even Radiohead, still play songs from their first, whereas OCS completely and utterly ignore it. I'm surprised it's even mentioned on their website.
From a pure skills standpoint, maybe. It wasn't the kind of music that needed impressive lead guitar chops, so I mean, I think '93-'97 Graham Coxon was a more inventive guitarist, and Nick McCabe was a mad genius unlike anyone else in 90's rock, but yeah, Cradock in a traditional sense probably was the best UK guitarist of the decade. I mean, there's a reason Weller's kept him around for 30 years while turning over the rest of his band multiple times. But at the same time, he's too traditional to get the props he probably deserves.