First, we have to make up our mind about one thing; is it acceptable to be influenced in this day and age by The Police, or is not acceptable? Whatever the age. The fact there’s only two of ‘em is no excuse. There’s similarly no excuse in having played in bands performing cover versions of Police and Queen songs in pubs and bars around West London and Brighton for the last 45 years. These things don’t just happen by accident. So if there’s a reason for sounding like Sting, you had better make it a bloody good one.
Grand National – Rupert Lyddon and Lawrence ‘La’ Rudd – from Weston-Super-Mare and Amersham respectfully – are two people who have made up their mind. It’s not just okay – it’s to be celebrated. Even if that means hanging from the rafters with your hair bleached blonde screaming ‘Roxanne’ if absolutely necessary. But this is just one untidy facet of an otherwise tasty and worthwhile union, because for all the screaming total Police recall of tracks like ‘Boner’ and ‘Daylight Goes’ there’s a brave and experimental kit-bag of sweet oddities jostling for our attention: the murmuring and surreal (and Beta-Band-esque) ‘Peanut Dreams’, the glittering jiggery-pokery of ‘Cherry Tree’, the rumbling drive and deciduous harmonies of ‘Coming Around’ and the hazy Ibiza sunshine of ‘Talk Amongst Yourselves’. It’s not a ‘dance’ album by any stretch of imagination but it shares with folks like The Happy Mondays and New Order a robust and informed grasp of this genre: tricksy beats, heavy melodic bass patterns and things that ‘whoop’ and ‘shake’.
Rupert Lyddon’s dad was a ventriloquist-comedian who once swapped jokes with Ken Dodd and the late, great Bob Monkhouse. It might not be relevant. It might not be acceptable – but like ‘Kicking The National Habit’ it’s fairly difficult not be amused by it on occassions.