This is one of the worst sounding records I own. I have no idea how they made it sound so shitty. I remember thinking that when I first bought it, playing it through my old hifi, and it's still the case now on my separates (you can't polish a turd). Tinny and flat. The a-side sounds fine on the (cd) album, so I guess it's just piss-poor mastering. Probably also has something to do with the fact the record label clearly cheaped out on the vinyl itself, because it's so thin there can't be any depth to the ridges on either side. On one hand, what do you expect for £1, but on the other, were there no test pressings? Did no one (with ears) listen to this before they sent it out to the shops?
But sound quality aside, it's not a bad 7". Well, even that's not true - both the songs are on other albums - Face or Kneecaps is on Forty Hour Train Back to Penn and Up to Me is on the brilliantly titled, but missing from my collection, Has a Gambling Problem. I had Forty Hour Train when I bought it, so I guess I was mostly buying it for the b-side, strangely accurately predicting the fact I wouldn't get round to buying Has a Gambling Problem for at least 10 years. The a-side is a great song (when you can hear it properly) and one of two good songs on there (Jamestown being the other). Up to Me is distinctly more pop-punk than a lot of the songs on their final album.
The Movielife were briefly a very important band in my group of friends. When we were at college they were very cool and we saw them a handful of times. Most notably was the first time when we saw them in The Joiners with Thursday supporting, which was an excellent show (my friend Hugh still considers this one of his all-time favourite gigs). I wrote about that in the blog about Full Collapse here. Then we all went to university and The Movielife broke up and I guess I didn't think about them for quite a while. After moving to Kingston many years later, I noticed that the guys in Banquet still adore them and have put on shows by the various bands the singer has been in since. In my usual, apathetic way, I've not checked out any of his other bands or been to see any of the shows. I probably should make an effort in case I'm missing out.
Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £0.90 new
Bought: HMV Southampton
When: 08/06/03
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
