This is a record that knows where it wants to be. It wants to be in 1981. When young men, like the young men in The Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Psychedelic Furs, The Chills, and The Clean wielded their guitars like weapons and as if there really was no tomorrow.
It was a worrying time to be honest. People were most worried about the nuclear bomb. But there was also rioting, social unrest, police brutality and plenty more to fret about and these bands provided a damned fine soundtrack and no little consolation.
Adult Books are essentially more 'coming of age' than adult.. They're incredibly cuspy in terms of their sound and the emotional impact they convey. They're the first bands you saw, if the first time you experienced the thrill of live concerts was back then. Their latest album Grecian Urn is pure retro thrill, an experience I enjoyed thorugh they are also defined and restricted by their sound. This breaks old rather than new ground..
The early Chills came across as a particularly important influence as the record unfolds. It seemed to offer a similar trip through lurid and verdant undergrowth as that band's early singles did. Guitars that chime and clang, that know their Byrds but also their Clash.
So this is a slightly weird Time Travel experience, like being offered the opportunity to go back to the university halls of your first few terms and put right their first few, important mistakes. Its ten tracks in all, ones that complement and offer subtle variation to one another.
There is plenty of punching of the air along the way. Adult Books are not here to change or save the world so much as give us all a reminder of a time when such an idea seemed conceivable. Hardly the worst mission or accomplishment imaginable. This record succeeds in almost evrything it wants to do and I'll come back to it.
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