It's no great surprise on hearing Black Leather on the Inside, the opening track of Night Crickets debut album A Free Society, to discover that their lead singer is David J, once of Bauhaus. Every second of its 3:46 is deeply indebted to The Thin White Duke just as pretty much everything put out by Northampton's finest was too.
Elsehwere Night Crickets, also containing Victor DeLorenzo, (formerly Violent Femmes drummer) cast their net wider. Second track Candlestick Park, an elegy for the venue of The Beatles last concert sounds like the missing track from The Auteurs quite wonderful minor-masterpiece New Wave. All doomed, nostalgic ennui.
A Free Society forges artfully owards. Thematically it's posey nonsense really. Most obviously indebted to Bowie and Eno, but they venture elsewhere with more exciting results. Little did I for example is a fantastic art-scholl reinvention of War's Low Rider.
All in all, this is something of a mixed bag. Some of it is the kind of thing you really should have got out of your system once and for all at 21. But it conjurs up an atmosphere that certainly might appeal to anyone who were ever drawn to Bauhaus and Love & Rockets. I confess I never was, quite enjoyed my listen to this but probably won't be going back as not unnaturaly I prefer the source material..
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