Lovethugs

Rainbow Quartz continue to throw their net as wide as possible to dig out the best in international pop and this time they’ve cast it way up north to Oslo, Norway where they found the Lovethugs. Playground Instructors opens with a promising burst of ’60s pop in "A Little Bit Of Something” complete with wonderful garage-y guitar riff. Jim Faulty’s vocals are midway between Julian Cope during his stint in the Teardrop Explodes and one of the many so-called British Invasion bands, and they are strong enough to carry most songs. But there is something not quite right about Playground Instructors, something that isn’t immediately obvious. It might be that the songs begin to blend into each other at around the halfway point of the album. Or it might be that everything is fine as long as Faulty’s vocals are there to distract from the rather ordinary guitar work. But whatever it is, it makes this an unsatisfying album that doesn’t fulfil the potential that it hints at on the first couple of songs.