Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Arguably there was a period of time when very little mattered music wise to some, the odd breakthrough artist such as Tori Amos, for some the battle for the so called soul of Brit-Pop between Oasis and Blur, a battle that seemed dog-eared and tired when compared to listening to the lyrical genius that lay in the words provided by Jarvis Cocker and Pulp and in others it seemed like the bland had taken over the musical asylum. The only way forward for some music lovers was to search beyond the offerings or to head back into safer waters and listen to what had come before.
New century, new dawn; yes there is still some tainted hand-outs out there, there are huge bands from before the start of the whole mid 90s period who still thrill and entertain but the light that was struck, like a match that turned out so far to be endless, has burned bright, especially in the Liverpool area. In Steve Thompson & The Incidents album, Rainbows & Arrows, that struck match has ignited yet more passion, more infatuation for a way of life that for a while was not just lost, it felt positively extinct.
Outstanding on stage, just as recklessly outstanding in the stage; not often does a listener imagine the sweat from a session in a studio to hang in the air of their living room. The same sweat, the pulsing of a band giving blood by the pint full, of swearing to uphold one of the truths of performance, that it must be done with honest endeavour and delivering with exhausted but sustained life.
Tracks such as Girl, It’s Me, Not You, the gravitas of Sound of the People, Turn Your Back and the storming, one of the songs of the year, Rainbows, all combine with passion, the sound of fury disguised with loving attention and like a stick of dynamite being thrown into a firework factory, the resulting explosion is so huge, so colourful, that the period of time in which music somehow became bland, looks on with seething fury; all it takes is one good firework.
For Steve Thompson & The Incidents, Rainbows & Arrows is passion, passion with no sign of forgery, the climax of an explosive and stunning release.
Ian D. Hall