It appears I am a total fucking idiot. Evidence can be found
here and
here where it appears every other person who had the misfortune to hear Orange's first album likened it to shitting out your ears. I quite liked it. I thought it had a few numbers on it that hooked into my brain straight away and stayed there and I liked the sloppy, casual guitars. The vocals, stuck somewhere between Splodgenessabounds and Rancid, were a change from what most punk bands were doing at the time and, all in all, it was a fantastic debut album from four teenagers with a lot of potential.
But that was "
Welcome To The World Of Orange" and this isn't. How will their second album sound? Part of me is worrying of the dreaded second album syndrome, especially as they were so young last time, that that swagger and snot-nosed charm that I loved first time round has gone. For the rest of you you'll be hoping it has.
well it starts off well enough. Until the singing. Which sounds daft. It's hard to put my finger on why it sounds so daft until the chorus where some fool has decided playing a guitar along with the melody gives it a strange nursery rhyme style. Not only does it sound like the stupidest sounding thing I've ever heard on a punk album but by the third time I've heard it I quite like it. This band are like a fungus and they've got their spores in on me already. Listening to this strangeness and looking at the bands pics it's fair to say they're on switch to a major and one "wacky" music video away from being Good Charlotte.
Hopefully they wont. As Scroobius Pip told us: "
Thou shalt not stop likin' a band just 'cause they’ve 'come popular.". He didn't say anything about bands pandering to their CEO to sell records to teenage girls. So fuck Good Charlotte: fucking mall punk wankers (I never liked 'em anyway). There's a lack of really good pop-punk around at the moment, especially still on indies, so I'm welcoming the arrival, and continued presence, of Orange into it even if they can sound a little stereotypical and punk by the numbers at times.
The third track
Tiara brings us back to that pop staple of love labour's lost. It's exactly what you'd expect from the band so far. The chorus is easy to sing along to, the verses churn along melodically enough, the lyrics will strike a chord with any 15 year old and let us cynical adults sneer a little at them. Every song's like that. The album does have the ability to bring us all back to those days in your mid teens. Although my teenage years were soundtracked by Osker, Stiff Little Fingers, Blink 182 and The Beat this album takes me back to drinking cider in a park, skanking at the unders or fingering fourteen year old girls in the bushes as much as any of them.
This album probably doesn't have the memorable, stand out tracks that their debut had. There's no "
Cool Mexicans" or "
No Rest For The Weekend" that sticks out. "
Flying Without Fear" is one of a number of tracks where the band do seem to be trying to get that one big song that they can end a show with. They've probably done it with "
I Hate Republicans" but that's just because it could easily be Black Flag, MDC or <enter 80s hardcore band>. I just think it's fucking amazing and a brilliant nod to an entire genre.
The album fair knows it's roots. On "
Stars" The line "
Cus when I got the love I got a place to go" is a wee nod to Tim Armstrong and, just for anyone who doesn't get it, the lyrics sheet has the word "music" scored out before the word love is placed in. Get it?
The album ends on "
Karma Chameleon". A cover of the 80s classic. It's fucking great as well. The vocals are somewhere between Tim Armstrong and Pete Doherty. If that doesn't strike you with fear nothing will. I'll also be very impressed if the singer has managed this without the help of an opiate of some format. It's a great cover tho'. I prefer it to the original anyway and I quite like Boy George.
Oh wait. There's a secret track. So this is my secret paragraph. It's pretty crap but it does feature the lines "destroying every dinosaur on the naughty list" and "there was shit everywhere". Told you this album was for teenage boys. And when I said I quite like Boy George I meant Culture Club from a musical point of view. I don't find Boy George sexually attractive Escape From L.A. is out October 1st through
Hellcat Records Orange's Myspace Karma Chameleon was released September 18th 1983 through Virgin Records
Orange - Escape From L.A. 
