Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is the yin and yang of music, the great trying to be better in either form. For some bands, trying to capture the sound the studio has afforded them, the well polished, buffered and clean finished article that may have had months in the making can never be truly captured in its live form. The animal is too different, there can be no retakes, no second, third or fourth different tries to get the note just right, it is do or die on the night.

The reverse is also true, the live set overpowering and so thrilling that the studio album can pale into significance and it takes great skill, great attitude and perseverance to couple both together. To then do it in a different language to which you are accustomed is somewhat compelling and worthy of being listened to with fresh unhindered ears. Lee and The Lovedaddies from Belgium combine the pop art of the very best parts of the 80s that saw U.K. music reach new heights and with the generosity that the European scene affords it. Not only does their self-titled studio album, complement their impressive energetic live performance but the music is just as infectious, playful with the sense of honesty and overall each song growls like a tiger with a ball of string between its powerful paws.

From the Sugar Baby, through to songs such as Walking Around, One Horse Town (bang bang), Telephone Conversation and the superbly addictive Cocaine Nathalie ‘Lee’ Van Laecke shows that the days of good female fronted pop, with the aggression of sublime rock guitar and thumping bass is far from over, it has just decamped across the channel and is now firmly rooted in Lee and the Lovedaddies.     

Ian D. Hall