Sharp Practise - Banging The Rocks
Fronted by singer Nigel Clothier, Sharp Practise can be described as a rock band that are influences by folk and dance and everything in between. Their latest album, ‘Banging The Rocks’, delivers a collection of gentle pop rock, foot-tapping choruses and ballads galore.
I had previously heard the opening track, ‘The Sound Of Rock’, and I was looking forward to the album to see if the potential of this band, though hidden under many layers and the backing band volume controls, could deliver.
‘Question Of Love’ and ‘My Revolution’ follow much in the same vein, though with the introductions being slightly different. The singing is too much and the rest of the band don’t have a chance. ‘Girls Don’t Look’ is a pop ballad about girls (the clue is in the title) complete with strings and piano. The constantly rhyming lyrics do become tedious and I found my attention drifting away from listening; not a good sign.
The shock of the Santana-sounding intro to ‘Nothing Is More’ made me sit up. Unfortunately, it quickly deteriorated into a poor man’s Van Morrison with lyrics that I found odd; ‘friends in the eighteenth century tried to find equality’ and even Napoleon Bonaparte gets a mention. Baffling.
The aptly named ‘Screw The Earth’ is their attempt at a protest song. The guitar playing is pretty good here but is let down by the lyrics and singing. The album goes on and more of the same follows with each track.
The tracks do vary slightly, but I found the album delivered too much of the same mood and tempo throughout. ‘The Sound Of Rock’, being the most commercial, will obviously get radio airplay though I do find this goes on a bit and would benefit from more emotion.
The sound of Sharp Practise is hard to explain, drawing on pop, dance, rock and ballads, I find it all too mellow and reserved. They leave you wanting for the guitar to scream in, the reigned in vocals to let loose and the tempo to increase. There’s too much singing; just stand away from the microphone once in a while Mr Clothier and let the rest of the band let rip! I’m sure their fans will still love it though.