Ever reached that moment of criticality when you realised that the pursuit of more beer was destined for failure? Thought so. We all have and yet, in that moment of distress, did you consider just what the best soundtrack for the tormented road to sobriety would be? Would it be by, perhaps, Glasgow’s unsung heroes Honey and the Herbs?
Heroes may well be too strong a word and too cheap a chocolate but these, ever playful, lounge lizards know exactly what they are doing and they therefore take the opportunity to redirect their album “Gloaming” in directions new and forever flavoured with sing along goodness. There is, for example, the persistently laconic “Yo Mama” to shift you straight from second gear into theatrical overdrive. It’s like Gilbert O’Sullivan had decided that the past was the present and was best experienced in a gold lame jacket. The spotlight then shines upon the middle of the road with “Waiting For My Baby” taking the Beatles for a walk in the park with a sparkled Herb Alpert and, without a hint of irony, “Croona Lumbago” subsequently turns the good life into the kind of cocktail that features equal parts harmony and Angostura bitters.
I’ll be squandering my cash on the vinyl version of this album only it won’t really be a case of squandering. It will. In fact, be the kind of investment that my accountant won't ever understand.