ARTIST: The Zutons
TITLE: Who Killed…the Zutons
YEAR RELEASED: 2004
CHART ACTION: #34 US Heatseekers, #6 UK
SINGLES: Pressure Point (#29 US Alternative, #19 UK), You Will You Won’t (#22 UK), Remember Me (#39 UK), Don’t Ever Think (Too Much) (#15 UK), Confusion (#37 UK)
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Nah
LINEUP: Dave McCabe, Russell Pritchard, Sean Payne, Abi Harding, Boyan Chowdhury
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: UK indie rock band’s debut has some catchy, if not lightweight songs that gave them a fanbase in UK and a slight bit of traction over here.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Over in Liverpool, in the early 2000’s, some bands emerged again that were part of a friendly scene, and one of those bands were the Zutons. Fellow scenesters The Coral got them signed, and their debut album featured five Top 40 UK singles.
It’s a decent indie rock album, diverse in its sound but usually traditional in execution. What puts them apart are Harding’ sax embellishment. While she’s no Coltrane, her simplistic accents add a bit of color to the songs so they sound a bit different than the others.
The Zutons were just as good or better than a lot of US bands that were popular during this time but they got little traction over here. This is not to say this album is a must have, but it was good enough that they should have gotten a bit more notice
NOTES & MINUTIAE: Harding wasn’t part of the band originally, but came on stage during sets to play a few notes and sing, and fans loved her so she joined full time.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: An appended single and a few alternate mixes.
GRADE: B: It’s decent, competent indie rock. Worse bands and albums have hit it big.