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PROUD
MARY
NEW VERY BEST FRIEND Proud Mary release
their first CD single on Sour Mash on August 13th. Entitled "Very
Best Friend" the single first saw the light of day earlier this
year as a limited edition seven inch single which sold out on its
day of release. The track had such a huge response the band have decided
to honour it with a proper commercial release. It will be made available
as a three track CD single (JDNCSCD004) including two new songs "Blown
Away" and "Stay Forever" and seven inch single (JDNC004)
backed with "Stay Forever". All tracks have been produced
by Noel Gallagher. Sun 5th
August DUBLIN WITNESS FESTIVAL MAIN STAGE PROUD MARY have played live to 64,000 people at 30 shows this year already and will have played to over 100,000 people at 46 shows by the end of the summer. Their debut LP "The Same Old Blues" is out now on Sour Mash. This is what some of you have said: "when Proud Mary let loose some Mancunian sarcasm, they really bite" (Q); "if you like swaggering scarf-waver tunes with vast choruses and singers who sound like they swallow red-hot pokers, you've found your Holy Grail - it's biologically impossible not to sing along to Time On Your Hands" (The Guardian); "raw-throated singer Greg Griffin is a star" (The Mirror); "it's music you imagine could be reverberating around stadiums before too long" (The Times); "imagine a bastard son of Bob Dylan fronting the Verve (but with a better slide guitarist) and surely you're already in the shop - great record thingy" (Evening Standard);"Proud Mary are a big wheel ready to roll" (Uncut); "a belting debut album" (The SUN); and finally, "expertly done" (NME) Ha ha, found one.You get the picture. Proud Mary release "Very Best Friend" on Sour Mash on August 13th. Go on, Give A Little Love: Phill 0208 340 0373
PROUD
MARY Proud Mary are Greg Griffin (vocals), Paul Newsome (guitar, backing vocals), Adam Gray (guitar, slide guitar), Nev Cottee (bass) and Terry Kirkbride (drums). Their debut album entitled 'The Same Old Blues' is instantly addictive and features nine songs and thirty nine minutes of unashamedly-heartfelt rock 'n' roll bliss. The LP opens with the tender Cottee composition 'Give A Little Love' which features the magnanimous chorus "Once you give a little love/You're gonna get some love right back" and some guitar breaks that are reminiscent of the Hollies' finer moments. As a song it's the perfect introduction to this exquisitely-conceived record, as a sentiment it's surely glorious: like that ancient Indian mantra - life is like a mirror, you smile and it smiles back. After this, we get the band's first single 'Very Best Friend' (the first track on the sampler you're hopefully holding in your hands right now) which is a tale of (ultimately) unrequited love - set to a country-blues backdrop - that ends in a broken heart and a "god only knows" refrain. We'll be shot for suggesting the verse reminds us of the P*l*ce's'S* L*n*ly' but we're gonna say it anyway. 'Don't It All Look Ugly' which follows is probably Proud Mary's most raucous moment and features the bitter-sweet anger of a guy looking down from a 747 on to a beautiful city at night. It's the classic band-on-the-road song though, where everything looks alright from up here but you just wanna go home. You'll figure the Stones' 'Moonlit Mile' was only half the story. If Bob Dylan fronted Oasis and played slide guitar he'd probably come up with 'All Good Things' after a while. This is a killer song that'll surely be released as a single one day soon and features the album's most memorable guitar work. Next up 'Somewhere Down The Line' is an early Pink Floyd-tinged country ballad set to make you feel good whilst 'Time On Our Hands' is a kind of live-forever, we-don't-have-to-worry-cos-we're-young-and-together rolling anthem. Luckily, the band can get away with this as none of them have seen thirty yet. In contrast 'Just For You' could be almost a hymn to friendship and features some of the most benificent lyrics imaginable - "May all your winter skies be blue/And all your lovers turn out right/Just for you." This is one take on it anyway: another is that this is a bitterly sarcastic tirade directed at an ex-lover. Either way, we must have done something pretty special to deserve a song like this. Well, whatever we did, it was enough for Proud Mary to record a sensational cover of the Jagger/Richards composition 'Salt Of The Earth' (off 'Beggars Banquet') as the album's penultimate track. This is the sound of a band fired-up: Mick and Keef might not immediately spring to mind when you're racking your brains for rock 'n' roll social consciences but Proud Mary do this song justice and more. Finally, on your travels, you might like to consider 'Same Old Blues', the LP's closer and title track, for this is the song you'll be playing when you drive back into town after some time on the road. At least it is in Proud Mary land - a beautiful place to be. 'The Same Old Blues' was recorded at Wheeler End Studios during a frenetic ten-day period of creative activity. It was produced by Noel Gallagher and will be the first release on Gallagher's own Sour Mash record label. Gallagher had just completed production duties earlier this year when he flew off to appear with Neil Young at the Rock In Rio Festival, proudly handing over a copy to his Lordship with the words, "Here's something I've just finished working on.' Young, in turn, has been heard to mutter that he's very pleased to be the only person he knows with a copy of the new Oasis album. Bless him. Proud Mary release
'Very Best Friend' as a single in April. The band's stunning debut LP
entitled 'The Same Old Blues' will be released on Sour Mash in the Summer.
You'll be wanting to know to where you can see them play live. Please
restrict your calling to once an hour.
Phill
0208 348 0373 |
