Latest Updates - That Petrol Emotion

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Comment by Magic Marmalade:

A very good band!

I shall be giving my tatty copy a further listen or two soon, I think (and keeping an eye out for others of theirs)

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Comment by Lee Wrecker:

Nice review Marmaduke! They are/were sort of a Northern Irish supergroup with an American singer that formed when the O'Neill brothers from The Undertones were left in the lurch by singer Feargal Sharkey. Although Feargal may have had "A Good Heart" and minor mainstream success for a while the O'Neill brothers went back to Derry and corralled members from local acts Bam Bam, The Calling and The Corner Boys together with USA vocalist Steve Mack to form That Petrol Emotion. The band were active from 1986-1993 and this is their second album. So, your review's mention of the influence of late 70's punk/new wave acts is spot on as that's where all the members of the group came from. Their music to me seems to be logical genesis (not the Peter Gabriel prog pantomime or Phil Collins MOR hit machine thankfully) of those influences. They were well received critically and did well on the indie charts but never really made the crossover to mainstream success.
This is buried treasure, Marmite!
Names changed to protect the identity of fictional characters.

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Comment by Magic Marmalade:

One of those bands that if you like one thing they do, you'll like everything they do...

...And I do like what it is they do, I do!

Wasn't sure what to expect when I found this, but one of those occasional nuggets you find, which is great throughout:

...Erm... New wave punk-ish semi goth type of high energy frenetic rock, which put in me in mind of Devo, The Clash on occasions, The Jam, and with occasional vocals reminiscent of Public Image Ltd. era John Lydon vocals when he hits the higher end of things. (Even the odd note of foreshadowing of Radiohead hues in the beats and use of instrumentation).

Lots of riffs with big crunchy guitars, undercut with squealy repetitive rhythm guitar stabs nice bass lines and solid thumpy drums- quite melodic in places too.

A side is only slightly more tending toward the "pop" end of this this spectrum. in terms of song duration and feel, and b side is a little more open, languid, and experimental sounding - one of the songs opens in such a way (a clearly sampled and looped vocal synth "chant thing") as to place it squarely dated in the eighties, so as you suddenly think it's going into Howard Jones type territory, before the crunchy guitar comes in and normal service is resumed, thankfully.

The recording is very good, with nice spacious and separated sound, albeit quite skinny and floppy piece of vinyl, and only a suggestion of the typical, signature "eighties echo" effect around the vocals, but not so much as to scare off the true new wavy punkoids among you :)

A nice find for this new year, and already thinking I'm not likely to find better this year.