Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The breathing quickens, the feeling of gravitas and surprise once more is palpable under the skin and the pulse, once steady, a continual motion of fixed security, now, with elegance injected into the nearest vein, doubles in speed, it magnifies the feeling of drought that has been inexplicable in the heart as you come to realise that whilst music is truly global, you can only see so much of it live due to fiscal responsibilities and distance.

It is because of the latter mostly that bands such as The Cherry Bluestorms don’t get the true recognition they deserve. On the back of the exceptional album Bad Penny Opera, the group return once more to the hearts and minds of those conquered with kindness and reassert themselves in the position of being superb story-tellers, of capturing an idea and making it sweat so hard that it becomes a champion in own and other’s classes.

For all that the single See No Evil and its old fashioned B-Side, a tantalising cover of The Beatles classic Dear Prudence is a dichotomy in waiting. Taken on its own the lead single is upbeat, a rocket of a song which is pace-driven and almost feels as if it is up for a fight with anything that might stand in its way; it would also win by default on many factors, least of all the difference to what many may have been expecting, the whimsy, the operatic power pop, all that has gone in this single and whilst it great, it is a departure that may catch a few with less than easy hearts out.

It is though in The Beatles cover to which the see-saw of emotions are tied down; where the ransacking of dynamite is encouraged. Whereas the tune behind See No Evil is Rock and meaty, Dear Prudence is, in the hands of The Cherry Bluestorms, a whimsical affair, a dream in which Oberon has cast his spell and in which Puck is devilish enough to take the tune past its original concept; hand in hand they offer two sides to the same coin and for which the band deserve much credit for showing their range off before the advent of a new album.

See No Evil…Dear Prudence, which ever coin you take the odds are you will rejoice in the side it comes down upon.

Ian D. Hall