Nominated by: KS
Music club: Wander to Wozza's
Playlist addition: Down in Splendour
Listening to this compilation of NZ's Straitjacket Fits, I was again reminded of my Beatles/VU theory - that all post sixties pop music can be traced back to two potential influences - either The Beatles influence or The Velvet Underground influence. This holds especially true for the Dunedin bands of the eighties and nineties.
Straitjacket Fits sit comfortably in the Beatles' camp in my humble opinion. The lead singer Shayne Carter has listened closely to John Lennon's vocal style and remains faithful to this inspiration, the vocal harmonies are fab, a real strength of the band, and the jagged guitar sounds are Helter Skelter McCartney like at times. Dialling a Prayer would be exhibit A as far as that White Album Beatles' sound goes.
Key moments apart from Dialling a Prayer, Burn It Up has a terrific guitar riff, Down in Splendour is a glorious pop song (Melt is my favourite studio album), She Speeds is a classic NZ song.
It's not all great though - Headwind takes an old rock'n'roll beat and mind melds it with eighties Dunedin alt rock but it's off putting for me. The cacophonous side of the band sits uneasily against the pop side on the compilation, Let It Blow after Down in Splendour being an example.
All up, the band remain another fascinating example of how a Flying Nun band revolves around one central character to create a distinctive sound. Shayne Carter's vocals create the crucial point of difference to distinguish the band from The Chills say.
The band had a brief 15 minutes of fame and flamed out but they remain an important component of the Dunedin scene (maan). Good choice to kickstart our AOTW again, KS!
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