Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is a presence of almost sacred conformation which comes across when the listener takes the albums of Bad Touch into consideration, for playing purposes or to argue over a well-earned drink in the local bar. A delicate nature which doesn’t hide from its basic drive, its origins documented, its inspiration a generous groove of wealth and the slog of the journey; this is how Bad Touch have created their own place in music, a position fought for, and won by determination of spirit and the ability to keep going, to take on every circumstance with the same smile, the same reason to get up in the morning and Shake A Leg.
A familiar phrase to those whose mornings are driven by the night before, the night owls, the late stayers who see the sweat of the evening as proof-positive of their existence and dynamic in the world, shake a leg is often greeted with the reply and retort of displeasure, of knowing that ahead is the scream of the sadist who seduces others with the idea of catching the first rays of the dawn.
Bad Touch though see it otherwise, the sweat of the performance is greeted as warmly as that initial spy of dawn, it is the realisation that what lays ahead is just as important as what has already been and in this latest endeavour in the studio. It is a mark of respect that conjures up images of the beat, of the stomp in full flow; it is an eagerness and energy that comes with that first visible poking of the toe from beneath the sheets and the jump out of bed into the glorious unknown.
Across 13 songs, Rob Glendinning, Daniel Seekings, Michael Bailey, George Drewry and Stevie Westwood have seized the creative urge and shaken off any cobwebs that may have started to form in the space between studio and touring. They have shaken more than a leg in the process, they have seen the day shudder in anticipation, they have caused others to quake and it is a marvellous reaction to endorse. In songs such as Lift Your Head Up, Hammer Falls, Too Man Times, Show Me What It Means and Slow Tempest, the heart beats with frantic inspection, the mind glows with the possibilities and the body quivers with the enquiring passion to come.
Shake A Leg, feel for the floor, for the world always needs bands such as Bad Touch to get the world moving and mobilised ready for action.
Bad Touch release Shake A Leg via Marshall Records on Friday 5th October 2018.
Ian D. Hall