Why?: I'm one of about maybe 100 people left in the world who loved the The Sharp in the 90s, and still love them now. I have everything they've released (I think) except that darn 1993 Fan Club Xmas tape. I even made a The Sharp discography fan page.
Tell me more!:
Alone Like Me was released as a single in two parts. One part in a cardboard sleeve like most singles, and part 2 in a slimline hard case designed for both discs. I'll review both.
"Alone Like Me" is a perfect little slab of rock'n'roll pop. In my humble opinion it's brilliant. The main distorted, rockabilly guitar riff, doubled under the whole song on rumbling double bass, two vocalists sharing duties, the shouted sing-along chorus, and silly little slightly stalker lyrics. What more could anyone want? I loved it enough to cover it (sort-of) on a first demo tape, and I often tried to get my band to cover it, but they didn't share the love.
The Sharp always did brilliant b-sides. Rumours at the time of their break up suggested that Alan (bass) wanted to go down the more experimental dance jam side of the music mountain, while Charlie (guitar) wanted to stay on the rock'n'roll path.
The two b-sides "Who Are You?" and "Baby Doll" seem to show this difference. The song "Who Are You?" is all backwards guitar, bowed strings, drum loops, monotonal lyrics, not much of a structure, like nothing on their first album, but shades of it are seen on "Sonic Tripod".
"Baby Doll" on the other hand is pure blues-rockabilly, although it is written and sung by drummer Pete. This song could have fit on either of the band's albums, but it perhaps a little straight forward.
Part 2 has three live tracks from the band's first album: Yeah I Want You, Train Of Thought and Talking Sky. They show just how amazingly tight they were live, but it they were a very visual band, so live audio alone isn't enough, and they play so perfectly, you'd be better off listening to the album. The intro to Train Of Thought for instance includes Pete come out from behind the drums to drum on the strings of Alan's cello. This is heaps of fun live, and it sounds nice, but you don't really know what's going on on CD.
6/10
