Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is always gold to be found in the use and employment of the rubber chicken, and yet that reliable comedy prop has at its disposal the power to disarm and relax a situation, to ask the question in the mind of those on the receiving end, just how serious can the message be if they are prepared to make you laugh first.

Humour and fun come in the most wonderful of places and situations, and even in the most serious of exercises and beliefs it can be found to sparkle, it can be the point of communication that binds and bonds us all, and even when it becomes a play on words, it has the intuition and foresight to be a craft of timely intervention.

The reason for the intervention, it is the gift of time playing its part, and where else is time more needed than in the art of music, the love of a song that requires accuracy in its meaning, which needs to hold up the symbol of absurdity and then use it to follow through on its drive to present an image of truth within the lyric, within each bar of musical expression.

One of the keenest exponents of time, their own symbol of relentless passion in presenting music that encompasses Psych, the caress of the Mersey sound, the punch of West Coast mixed with every reference under the sun, are Rob Clarke & The Wooltones, and especially in the superbly titled E.P., Rubber Chicken B Sides.

The four tracks that make up the E.P., Brown Paper Bag, Love And Haight, Better Times, and Last Train To Robclarksville are such that they captivate the ear and gladden the soul, and yet for all the distraction of the prop held in the air, the message is serious, it is music of quality, unafraid to go down every possible avenue in its desire to fulfil the need in the listener; to be considered as heavy weight expression whilst understanding its own feelings of nostalgia and pathos.

It is with huge resplendent smile and pleasure to hear the sound of the band once again, Rubber Chicken B Sides is a banquet for the mind, tasty, never foul, Rob Clarke & The Wooltones again hammer the point home. Ian D. Hall