I promised a friend ages ago I would do this, so here it is. Dubhouse – the review
There are a few things I want to say about this album. It’s solid. There’s no one point where you’re left wondering about song choice. It’s Icehouse, you barely need to worry about choice of note, let along song. I’m not saying the band are infallible, but they’re more than musically capable, to put it mildly.
Now I know, I wax lyrical about Icehose and often. “Bass playing… Blah blah blah guitar blah blah blah….drums…..” You get the idea, but there’s a good reason for that, they’re just that good. If this album was anything other than sensational, it would be a disappointment.
Now, let’s go through the album. It opens with Tony Kopa’s voice blaring through the speakers before kicking into Exodus. I’m a big marley fan. It’s got me smiling – it’s music for the heart, music with heart and listening to it has put a big stupid grin on my face. It’s what joy sounds like. There are horns and drums and guitar. I’m making my way up one of melbournes steepest hills and not even noticing, instead I’m looking at the full moon and bam, we’re sliding into Great Southern Land. Iva takes over. Good work boys. I’m still walking up this hill, but now I’m bopping along and singing in my head. This is why reggae fans are so happy. It has nothing to do with all the pot they smoke. It’s about the music. I love the chopping and the changing between the two styles – icehouse with reggae mix and out and out reggae. That second slide back into GSL and I’m still smiling – and that hill is gone. I’m glad I decided to walk.
Next song up is electric blue – not that I expected it to be. There are those horns again. I think I actually prefer this version. Some of you are shouting sacrelig, but there’s something about the mix between Kopa and Davies that suits this song perfectly. Maybe it’s getting rid of those sickly sweet choruses that makes me happy?
Now we’re onto something else and fuck me sideways! The start of Hey Little Girl with more horns is bloody brilliant. Perfection exists, mate and those few notes are it. It’s laid back, it’s all about the beat, Iva’s bang on the money vocally speaking and just when you’re enjoying it, it jumps into full reggae and Tony Kopa and all his soul comes back. I’m not walking down the street, I’m bopping.
You may not be able to bottle this kind of joy but if you can put it down on record and make the listener feel it every single time, well then you’ve done something pretty special.
Iva then declares that somewhere in the carribean they made this music before jumping into a very slinky Icehouse.
After a beautiful Walk On The Wild Side/Heartbreak Kid, the feel is kept relaxed for Crazy.
Before we knew it it was time for one of my favourite songs. Now this song sounds to me like that gasp when that person finally takes off their shirt and yes, they actually are just as perfect as you’d imagined them to be. It’s the brain scrambling that causes my selective mutism. It’s what my nose bleeds sound like and what they feel like too. It starts off slow but then bam. It’s that one feeling that is indescribable- Iva took it and turned it into a song.
Can’t Help Myself sounds perfect, just like the rest of em in this format. Slowly it builds, which suits the song perfectly. It’s nervousness and tension and hope and the spinning of brains all at once. It’s immersive and suddenly there is a guitar, probably a strat, articulating everything. Another chorus. Iva is taking the audience along with him. There’s a bit of repetition on the chorus, but you just don’t want the song to end and suddenly there’s a break and the audience comes in for a sung along. The horns take the lead and it takes it’s true ska form. That horn section is one of the best things about this album. Without them, this whole concept would fall flat on its arse – but it doesn’t, it flies and can’t help myself comes to it’s natural, sped up ending.
Suddenly we’re listening to Walls, although again you wouldn’t know it from the intro. It’s kinda trippy to begin with, there’s some very fine ska based guitar work on there and thumbing bass. Steve Bull is right – the bass is turned up loud and yes, it’s a very good thing.
Iva then pulls his son up for lead on buffalo soldier. Again, I’m a massive Marley fan so songs like this are automatically a good move. Suddenly the song slides into Street Cafe- same thumping rhythm, it fits perfectly. It’s as if the two songs are interchangeable, not something you would have thought of hearing Street Cafe in it’s original format.
Iva then announces that “this is a feminist song”. It’s Sister and it sounds how it should. It’s almost the same arrangement except for the horns, the bongos and the reggae trappings – the tempo isn’t really changed and the guitar work on it is excellent.
The album then flows into the Israelites by Des Dekker before you hear “there must be something we can talk about” and anyone familiar with Icehouse’s back catolouge knows what that means. It turns into one big jam, melding the two songs together, mixing it up to match the song rather than just changing lyrics. It’s uptempo and fast and a little messy, but We Can Get Together sounds good in this format.
To summerise, this is the perfect ska/reggae album. There are horns, there are bongos, there are strats and there’s a melodica at one point.Tony Kopa’s voice gives Iva’s a nice contrast and it’s well put together. In the middle of it all you have the songs – twisted and turned in ways you wouldn’t expect, but the break downs are perfect. It’s an album that makes you smile. Who could ask for anything more?
help me, calliope 