Reaction’s first album was recorded thirty eight years after they split up, Fighting Boredom reviewed it and liked it a lot. This album has the influences of forty years of combined music listening and steps away from the Punk of the first, there are still Punk moments here but it is stronger and weirder for it. Read what we thought below.
The second album from Scotland’s Reaction is either Keep it Weird or Keep it Wired. Either fits, so take your pick. Right from the silver foil cover with the odd flock wallpaper design you know this isn’t the punk album Reaction’s first album was. That album took thirty eight years to come together, this one is more of a reflection of the band’s musical adventures, all the bands that came after punk and got under their skin. As such it works bloody well. It’s the mix of their sound from the first album and the movement away from that wired punk thrill into a more measured emotional ride.
There are echoes of bands you know and love here, I’ll leave deciphering them for when you are gloriously disheveled and listening to it flat out on the sofa. As they say, it’s not about the past, it’s about the future. They’ve managed to hold on to that gritty, hard edged emotional vocal and build the music around it. Never jarring, just tunes to get under your skin. They are cynical as only the one’s who have lived their lives can be..‘Why should we care if there’s no younger generation to succeed us.’ Valerie Solanas says before a song filled with a list of heroes, any song that mentions Hanoi Rocks among many others is fine with me.
It’s at it’s strongest when the vocals match the music with emotion, effortless and cool, rebel rousing and living life. They sing about seizing the day, living as you can, going for your dreams and looking back on youth with the fantastic Days of Eldorado. It’s still punk, but punk is an attitude and way of looking at the world. Reaction capture life and have squeezed it into this album. It’s one for those of us that still care.
