There was a time a while back when I wasn't obsessed by this blog and I used to spend many hours watching music channels via the satellite dish, particularly MTV2. I picked up on a fair new things that way, and one of the songs I most enjoyed was Apply Some Pressure which at the time (early 2005) I mistakenly thought was the debut single by Maximo Park.I rarely pay a huge amount of attention to new or emerging bands, but there was something strangely charismatic about this lot, and in particular frontman Paul Smith who had a way of just holding your attention in the promo video. So I was intrigued to see what would come out when the band released the follow-up, which happened to be in May 2005......
And it blew me away:-
mp3 : Maximo Park - Graffitti
An infectious and catchy piece of indie-pop that just grabbed you by the throat and demanded your immediate attention with a great sing-a-long lyric in the chorus. I really did think that this was the beginning of something truly special and that Maximo Park would go on to be one of the great new bands of the 21st Century.
Sadly, while I still have a lot of time for the band, I think the second and third LPs haven't built on the fantastic debut - my view five years on is that there isn't a weak song among its 13 tracks across 39 and a bit minutes - and the icing on the cake came when I caught them live (not for the first time) when they headlined an NME tour but were in danger of being totally overwhelmed by Arctic Monkeys who were second on the bill, especially after the angelic upstarts had played a blistering live set and shown that they were far more than mere hype. But Maximo Park took to the stage and crashed into Graffiti with a venom, passion and stage-presence that didn't waver over the next hour and demonstrated that they totally justified their top-billing.
Grafitti reached #15 in the UK singles charts and remains their second biggest hit outwith Our Velocity which cracked the Top 10 a year later. It was released on 2 xCDs and a 7" single, and here's your other tracks:-
mp3 : Maximo Park - Trial And Error
mp3 : Maximo Park - Graffiti (original demo)
mp3 : Maximo Park - Stray Talk
mp3 : Maximo Park - Apply Some Pressure (original demo)
mp3 : Maximo Park - Hammer Horror
Happy Listening.
3 comments:
I saw them on that tour and was very impressed. But you are also right to say that the following two albums didn't quite hit the mark.
I don't watch half as much MTV2 as I used to. Perhaps I just got too old?
Love, love, love this band though I agree that the first album is the best (so far)...what a debut though! Paul Smith has something of the Jarvis about him- totally mesmerising on stage. Acrobat is one of my favourite tracks & it works so well live.
My niece was two when Graffiti came out & I bought it for her- still remember the look on some indie kid's face when she suddenly belted it out in the middle of a wee local cafe :-)
I missed MP's early tours but saw them in June 06 at the Vinyl Factory and a few times at different venues after that.They have changed a bit since their debut tours but are still a unique band.They have gone further down the pop route and widened their fanbase.Still a great 21st Century innovative group.
Post a Comment