First of all, this is a slightly overdue review… These days, I only write when I’m in the mood to. Now that’s out of the way…
So, as Alex Johnson (vocals) will no doubt attest to, Wonk Unit and Apathy & Exhaustion have a slightly spotty record when it comes to reviews. Which can often be a tricky situation when it’s mates and that. However, I can say with some degree of confidence that he also appreciates and enjoys the fact that I’m honest in my opinions and that I reject sycophancy and paying lip service and all that tripe. So, this new record, Good Good Glad to Hear It, which is (I think) their 8th proper album, sees them make the leap to Pirates Press Records, and hopefully a wider audience throughout the world.
Overall, this LP sees the Wonks returning (generally speaking) to a harder, punkier sound, which I’ve always felt served them best, most notably on Trolleys Thank You, back when, which featured Duncan Redmonds (of Snuff / Guns n’ Wankers / Billy No Mates) guesting on drums. Thankfully, the wackiness is kept to a minimum on this latest outting. I object to it; I find it annoying, and I feel like it undermines the quality of the other songs. For example, Shiny Horses, the 5th track on side ‘A’ suffers badly here. Knowing Alex, it’s probably laden with some kind of obscure metaphor, which is great and all – he no doubt has a poet’s soul, whereas I am a mere curmudgeon. I find myself reminded of the fact that my brother in law, Jim, has a particular aversion to songs where the music imitates the sounds of trains (Train of Consequences by Megadeth for example). I feel like I’m developing a similar aversion to songs that imitate the sounds of horses clopping about. It also sticks out like a sore thumb, here. At least it isn’t a token ska song…
Side A features some great punk rock songs, particularly ‘Rapidly Declining Dignity’, ‘Overwhelmed’ and ‘The Thickest Skin’. There’s a real talent for heart-on-sleeve honesty and a display of genuine vulnerability that can be missing all too often from a lot of music out there these days. Packed in with the not to be underestimated art of penning a decent tune and unleashing it on your audience with a dash of controlled aggression and obvious honesty, you can see the Wonks still have that something special, in spite of several notable personnel changes down the years.
On the other side, we open up with ‘Complicated Girl’, which flips things on their head a bit. Normally, musically, this one would sit outside my wheelhouse of tolerance. It sounds like Chas n’ Dave covering ‘It Must Be Love’ by Madness. The song even directly references said song. Along similar lines, walking that Madness / Squeeze line is ‘True To Who I Am’. However, this is where the aforementioned honesty and vulnerability again comes to the fore and completely changes the dynamic, not only making the songs tolerable, but making them something I find myself wanting to come repeatedly back to. Unexpected, right?
The closing duo of ‘You Spook Me’ and ‘Stage Fright’ are some of my favourite moments on the album. The former for some reason puts me in mind of a non-electronic Carter USM. I have no idea why, but it strikes me as some kind of genius. The latter is about as close as we’ll get to a traditional ballad here, and concerns performance anxiety in the public bogs. Now, I can sympathise with this. I can be prone to being somewhat pee-shy. I love the secure environment of a toilet cubicle. Some things should in my opinion be done in private, innit. Dunno if it’s the not very well hidden introvert in me that’s to blame here or what, but either way it does make me feel somewhat abnormal.
Anyways, now that that particular bit of oversharing is out of the way, I’d give this a comfortable Tony of Nurgle rating of 8/10
This is available in places that sell good records or direct from the Wonk Unit bandcamp page, at a gig, or from the Pirates Press Records webstore.
