After a 7 year hiatus, Richard Thair, Ali Friend and David Ayers have donned their Red Snapper caps again, and the 2008 line up also includes the talents of Tom Challenger. Boy! This man can blow. In the summer Red Snapper firmly established their return with gigs and festival slots all over the UK & Europe, winning over audiences with old favourites, as well as testing out new tracks on enthusiastic crowds, which worked a treat, and were duly recorded. Then Lo Recordings bundled them into the studio with Tim Holmes of Death In Vegas fame, and the superb results is this on form new album. ‘A Pale Blue Dot’ opens with the stomping ‘Brickred’, which has got a certain Northern Soul meets Rockabilly at a swinging beach party feel. No wonder ‘Brickred’ is already a live favourite. ‘Lagos Creepers’ is up next, coming on like classic Red Snapper, all dirty funky rhythms with smokey licks and plenty of atmosphere, rude moves on the dancefloor. ‘Wanga Doll’ is one of those Red Snapper tricky time signature tunes, more of a headbanger rather than a headnodder, rocking out with elements of ‘Reeled & Skinned’ and a fucked up modern day Floyd. ‘Moving Mountain’ is a fitting tribute to ‘King Tubby Meets The Rockers Uptown’ in a Ninja water garden, and ‘Clam’ plants us back on the funk train and in the driving seat. ‘Deathroll’ reminds us that Red Snapper know there’s a film score to be had somewhere, just go with it and make of it what you will, but it’s certainly a journey I’ll be taking again. ‘A Pale Blue Dot’ comes to a close on 2 remixes, Kelp send ‘Clam’ into intergalactic overdrive and Subway shoot ‘Brickred’ through with a large dose fat electronics. Have Red Snapper made a triumphant come back? Of cause they bloody well have, it’s Red Snapper innit.
5 Out Of 5
Reviewed By: Dean Thatcher