Lick The Blue Frog - Review

The Mavyns - Lick The Blue Frog

Aaah. The Mavyns. [Pronounced - may-vin]. But there’s no question of ‘May’ winning with this band. With a batch of songs that have proved outright winners with almost everybody, and couple that with the tumultuous concerts they play and it’s the jackpot. They have tastes that range from the most obvious one, The Beatles, to some as unlikely ones such as White Stripes and Cold War Kids. Their music is high-strung and a comprehensive mash-up of mainly British music and is clever enough to appear dumb. And while you can detect their influences, it’s never as if their playing someone else’s songs. They are the Mavyns. They’re playing the Mavyn’s music.

So finally, they’ve released an album of sorts. It’s a collection of live performances held at the Blue Frog. More like it’s a collection of ultra-energetic drumming, first class guitar solos and highly sentimental lyrics. The Mavyns bash out a debut that’s single-minded in its righteousness. An all-action, balls out quarter rising from the ashes of such bands as The Beatles in its melancholy undertones, Velvet Underground in its musicianship, Bob Dylan in its expansive lyrical conquests and Sex Pistols like confidence in their own ability. They’ve whipped up a perfect storm of tumbling, holler-helmed chaos that settles into a precise, catchy and sweetly-plied fusion. The album’s ambition is only exceeded by it’s quality. The brush that paints this album is further than just the music. Lyrically, there’s a hell lot to write about. In about 42 minutes, they express everything from love, hate, joy, weed, hopelessness, sexual promiscuity, laughter, friendship, tears and death. It’s an album that reveals a lot about the band. It’s melancholic in a deeply personal way. It’s manages to be sad, even when it’s happy. [Proof - “you think you’re beyond what makes you happy, or everything that ever made you sad”]. It might be your best album of 2010. The sound is big, sticky and sounds so damn new, for music inspired in the 60’s. Music you can sing as well dance to. However, everything has a flaw. The Mavyn’s being the live version of ‘Freedomslinger’. The recorded version is so good, it’s almost orgasmic, but it would be a stretch to say that about the live one. The riff, so key to the song, is disjointed and tired. The other, is the scrunched and scruffy guitar/bass tone which somehow offsets ‘My Sound’. It’s got a terrifyingly addictive piano intro, but is thrown off by the almost grungy guitar. It would have been a lot better for simple and musical guitar lines.

The album is good, great even. It takes more than rhyming words and a 4/4 beat to change the way you look at music, and with all due credit, The Mavyns have managed it. It’s a case of Indian music at its theoretical best, combining western influences with eastern charisma. You might wonder what they’re formula is, and end up to a conclusion of Beatle-mashing. But if you like the album and the songs, the only formula you need to love is yours. Truly.

Highlights:-

1. You’re Only Right
2. Hard To Believe
3. Greener Than The Sea
4. My Downtown Baby
5. Screw it! The entire damn album!