The Subways - All Or Nothing
Finally after a three year wait The Subways release their second album “All or Nothing”. The debut album, Yong For Eternity, got some criticism that producer Ian Broudie failed to capture the bands immense live sound on the album. So this time they have enlisted the producing skills of Butch Vig, but has he captured the sound on the record?
Well quite frankly that is answered within the intro of the first track “Girls and Boys” with its head banging drum and bass intro you know you are in for a lot of fun with this album. While it is pretty much impossible to bottle up The Subways immense stage presence, All or Nothing does go a long way to come close.
Many people write off The Subways as being an Indie Rock band but they sure have their heavier tracks, Girls and Boys being one, Shake! Shake!, Obsession and new single I Won’t Let You Down are all too rocky to be classed anywhere near Indie.
There are the softy songs too like Alright, which is clearly a song saying to us all that all the recent problems are over, Lostboy, Move to Newlyn and the excellent Strawberry Blonde, which starts with just Billy Lunn singing alone with his guitar to be joined by Charlotte Cooper on bass and Josh Morgan on drums.
There is even a bit of a dance style track in the form of Turnaround, which those that have seen the band live recently will know just gets the crowd going wild. One thing that does stand out quite clearly on the album and no more so on this track is the superb bass playing skills of Miss Cooper. Everyone already knew that Billy Lunn and Josh Morgan were both great musicians themselves but to get to hear bass lines like on this track really does make you sit up in awe.
On the version that comes with the DVD you will get two extra tracks too. It is well worth spending the extra for the one of those songs This Is The Club For People Who Hate People.
Quite frankly this album is making a big statement. The Subways are back with a vengeance and making up for lost time. With a big autumn tour in the UK and Europe, including a headline gig at London’s Brixton Academy, it will be a big sigh of relief for Welwyn Garden City’s finest export to be back and rocking once again.