Review: Switches – Heart Turned To D.E.A.D.

Of all the 1970s genres, glam rock is one of the few many think we could have done without; this was the genre that gave us The Glitter Band and The Sweet after all; still adored by men in their late 40’s/early 50’s who steadfastly refuse to throw out their flared trousers. Lest we forget though, T. Rex and Bowie also found more enduring success. London’s Switches may offer salvation for glam fans but also for lovers of melodic pop/rock in general.

All that is good and not so good about Switches is covered in the first two tracks. ‘Drama Queen’ does bring back worrying echoes of The Sweet but then ‘Snakes And Ladders’ is a song of their own making; its highlight being the full-throated chorus. Switches don’t do subtlety, that’s for sure, but they do provide more than acceptable approximations of all that was good about the glam/new wave scene. No nonsense songs ‘Lay Down The Law’, ‘Step Kids In Love’ and ‘Every Second Counts’ prove their harmonies are well executed and songs hook-heavy. They do occasionally come unstuck on the falsetto-voiced ‘Laura’ which tries too hard to sound like Queen whilst the heavy-handed ‘Lovin’ It’ and ‘Message From You’ are too contrived. Yet in a similar way to The Feeling, Switches are unashamed about their influences and they have enough good songs to carry it off the reminiscing.

Web Sites:
Switches Official Site
Switches MySpace

Further Listening:
10CC, Jellyfish, Queen

Advertisement