Format: CD
Cat. No.: SALVOCD042
Barcode: 698458814227
Playing Time: 72m 59s

Their joyous, energetic debut (which has been described as "Nick Drake meets The Pixies") firmly ilustrated The Frames’ undeniable talent, particularly on singles The Dancer and Masquerade. Elsewhere on songs such like Downhill From Here and Picture Of Love for example, they flexed the more gentle atmospherics that would characterise their later work. This edition features no less than eight bonus tracks.

REVIEWS

Being  in the right place at the right time is a neat trick, but it’s also partly bedevilled Glen Hansard and The Framessince he pulled them togetherout of Dublin’s Grafton Street busking scene, only to almost simultaneously find additional fame by appearing in Alan Parker’s film The Commitments. A breakthrough experience for many cast members, it almost derailed The Frames through assumptions that they’d be of similar ilk.

Thankfullywe have these reissues of their earliest albums, bundled with a raft of bonus tracks, by which to track their distinctive voice. Another Love Song (1992) and Fitzcarraldo (1995) are big, bold rock sounds that have a real passion and anthemic sense of importance and vitality, yet they also have more introverted moments that signpost the way in which Hansard and his revolving cast would develop.

To hear how they’d redefined themselves by 1999’s Dance The Devil let’s just note that its Seven Day Mile was recently used in the sixth season premiere of Hugh Laurie’s House medical drama. Such a selection was entirely apt as the curmudgeonly, yet melancholic, heart of that prgramme also seems to beat through the tracks of this understated yet bittersweet record.

4 STARS

Ian Abrahams

RECORD COLLECTOR