When John Andrew Fredrick says that he intends this to be the last black watch album, he does add the caveat that he has been wrong before. But considering this is the band’s 27th long-playing fab and groovy waxing, it’s fair to say he’s earned the respite/retirement…only time will tell…and if this is to be the last dance, what a fine way to sign off. I wasn’t there at the beginning, but I’m glad to be there at the end.
As always, The Fuzzy End of the Lollipop (and who wouldn’t expect such a great line from such a movie-literate chap) is an eclectic, artful affair: songs woven from power-pop poise and jangling jauntiness, fuzzed-out shoegazery and dream-pop textures, indie melody, and rock muscle. But as always, it is the songwriting chops that are the key…as it should be.
If opener, ‘Marie Bouzkova’ (a tribute to the humility of the Czech tennis star – the game being another of his many passions) grooves along on chipper sonics and a lilting power, ‘Never You Mind’s’ blend of trumpet and raw guitar feels like a Mariachi shoegaze band.
The title track is a lovely slice of understatement echoing Neil Hannon’s Divine Comedy beat-y and beatific, seductive and sweet and ‘Stars at Last’ weaves dense yet jangling guitars into a sound that evokes pop’s infectiousness and joy and rock’s integrity and sonic weight – a power-pop perfection of melody and muscle, grace and groove. ‘Her Halo’ is brilliantly mad, occasionally angular and creatively contagious.
If this is the last, then I thank you, and we will dance to these tunes with bittersweet tears of joy in our eyes. But let’s not forget, especially if you are coming to the black watch’s wonderful world late in their long and storied…err… story, with a back catalogue bigger and more varied, more intriguing and smarter than almost any band out there (The Stones might have made more albums, but they essentially made the same few albums over and over again), you have plenty of music to console yourself with.
For now, raise a glass, give thanks, smile, drop the needle on the record and dance like a loon.
