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The Quireboys: Well Oiled (SPV)  
By Steve Rudd  
Monday, 17 May 2004
To say they've been around for almost two decades, it might seem remarkable that this album is only their fourth. Bear in mind though that after their second album back in 1993, The Quireboys effectively split for the best part of seven years before reforming in 2000. Since then, they've been pretty damn busy, having played with Status Quo in Hyde Park and with Thunder and Alice Cooper on 2002's mighty Monsters Of Rock tour of the UK.

Still, those accolades are nothing compared to the kind of gigs they used to play in their late 80s/ early 90s glory days with likes of Guns 'N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi at various points in their checkered career. Hell, Ginger out of The Wildhearts used to play for them in the early days.

Musically, this album hears the six boys at their best, with frontman Spike's vocals as distinctively swooning as ever, with 'Good To See You' opening a truly stunning collection of songs. The style of their music is essentially rock 'n' roll with a raw and lusty 'Blues' edge, as Spike – even in the first track – moodily sulks whilst singing “No one wants to know me - no one seems to care”.  Talk about being paranoid.

 

'The Finer Stuff' brings Keith Weir's talent on the keyboards to the fore with his Doors-esque tunefulness, before the melodic guitar riffs delivered by Guy Griffin and Paul Guerin edge into the frame.

 

There truly isn't one dud song herein, though the likes of the Blues-blasting 'Lorraine Lorraine' (in which Spike's gruff yet soulful vocals might remind of Rod Stewart's) and the album-closing masterpiece of melody 'Black Mariah' (which hears him sounding somewhat like Flaming Lips frontman Wayne) are definite highlights, with 'Too Familiar' being one of their most endearing soft rock ballads to date, and their 'Last Fence' being one of their most upbeat and fast-paced anthems.

 

While 'Well Oiled' isn't that hard-rocking, the marriage of guitar riffs and keyboard tunes complement Spike's vocals exquisitely, ensuring that these songs could be some of the most charming and sublimely catchy tunes that you hear all year, and some of the best of the band's career. A career, incidentally, that saw them start out originally called The Choirboys, before they began calling themselves The Queerboys on account of how the semi-Glam members looked at the time.

 

Even today they are still pretty Glam in a stylish and sophisticated Jane's Addiction kind of way, and musically they sound to be riding the crest of their career to date.
(5/5)

 

Release Date: 17 May 2004


ImageWell Oiled

 

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