DODGY - What Are We Fighting For

Little by little, Dodgy are turning back into the band we remember.

Almost ten years on from a reunion that was perhaps ill-timed and certainly imperfect, Nigel Clark, Mathew Priest and Andy Miller have ironed out some natural teething troubles, rediscovering the pleasure of letting loose, even in the studio, a band that has always been, at heart, a festival animal with few equals.

The third act for the English band – after the glorious run in the early nineties and the disastrous three years without Clark that followed – has already produced two albums ("Stand Upright In A Cool Place" was the first, four years ago) that aren't exactly essential but are shaped by growing confidence and inspiration. Also proving decisive, perhaps, were a couple of pieces that have recently slotted into the puzzle: Stu Thoy, the bassist and vibraphonist who has backed the trio live across half of Europe in recent years, has been welcomed as a full member; signing to Cherry Red, a label with a storied past, has also lent further solidity to a project that, on this occasion, benefits from the valuable contribution of Vanessa Best (of the equally resurrected Ultrasound), who for a while was also frontwoman of a band shared with Priest and Miller, The Soulwinners.

The opener "You Give Drugs A Bad Name" sounds particularly biting and makes no secret of evoking the restlessness of fellow countrymen Stone Roses, more than a passing reference for these guys even two decades ago. With his unmistakable fills, Matthew flaunts a rhythmic prowess à la Keith Moon in line with his best days, while Andy's electric riffs reign supreme and Best's choral backing raises the stakes just enough. In this picture, the only thing that seems slightly out of place is Nigel's greater reticence – these days a quiet music teacher in Worcester – who isn't quite as at ease when emphatic delivery takes over. The singer fares better in more direct, intimate moments like the sunny "California Gold", lit up by subtle roots touches that are far from unwelcome.

The formula is certainly a familiar one, but the now fifty-something Dodgy prove they can still handle it with real ease and a sonic shine we no longer expected to hear from them. Here and there is just a touch of self-indulgence, true, but given the genuine nature of these characters, it remains a rather venial sin.

At just the right moment the band plays the card of roguish nostalgia ("Are You The One"), and the formula pays off handsomely, confirming that certain sunshine-pop evocations are still fully within their reach. The same can be said of big electro-acoustic ballads like "Mended Heart", effortless, trademark power-pop (meanwhile emulated to good effect by rising talents such as Death By Unga Bunga) which, having been the dominant option on the previous LP, here appears reduced to a mere classicist fig leaf. With "Now Means Nothing" the band's freakbeat exuberance, combined with its (potentially) lethal refrains, instead calls to mind the masterpiece "Free Peace Sweet", and even if the surprises are at zero, the rediscovered enthusiasm and renewed stamina are encouraging signs.

Certainly some tracks – the telling "Is This Goodbye" – feel like business as usual, kept afloat by the verve and flair of the individual performers, who never slip into gratuitous excess, mind you. "The Hills" opts to revisit the band's "naturist" side, with Clark free-wheeling in his romantic yet minimal pose, accompanied almost exclusively by piano. The result, however, moves us less than he perhaps hoped, and the magic of a "Grassman", say, remains a thousand miles away. Elsewhere, though, we recover fragments of that woodland, slightly naive mysticism which, together with the brazenness of early Who, truly made the difference for the London outfit back in their golden years. So in the admirable "Never Stop" you can hear, loud and clear, the echo of the successful singles of the 1994-95 season, even if the idea of replicating note for note the summery lightheartedness of "Staying Out For The Summer" or "So Let Me Go Far" remains, more than anything, a sweet illusion.

On the second side Nigel takes the lead and guides his bandmates through his own lovingly revivalist territory, with a candour that again steers clear of mere convenient britpop euphoria, returning instead to being simply his own personal voice, an exclusive language. The long title track closes things out with an ecstatic frankness, that same sincere and never hollow optimism that animated pretty much all their best records, a benevolent sense of peace that carries the scent of dignity, of someone who may come out defeated from their own battles but never gives in to resignation.

"What Are We Fighting For" has, in short, the shape of a sufficiently worldly-wise, honest and confident record. It still cuts a fine figure in terms of pure pop-rock entertainment and points to a sound compromise between passion and craft, without promising anything more than it can actually deliver.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

28/10/2016