Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

Carbon/Silicon "Carbon Bubble"

So let's get the shit out the way first. I understand the process but you're never going to get me to say I like it. Analogy time! As soon as I passed my driving test my auntie sold me her old clapped out Ford Fiesta for 30 notes. People told me at the time that you couldn't kill a Ford Fiesta with a stick - but they were wrong - 'cause kill it. So then I had to buy another second hand motor. "Stick with what you know son" my Dad said, and I did, I bought another F'in Ford Fiesta. The pattern continued, I got married and eventually the wife and me bought our first brand new car, yeah a Ford Fiesta (on the never, never of course). Before the never, never came around though a new Fiesta model came out, so we had one of them on the never never instead. Five years on, same again, until one day Ford announced that an all new 2000 Fiesta was on its way, I went to the dealer and put my name down for one. On the day of the launch I went up the Garage to take ownership only to find out that the new Ford Fiesta was actually a fuckin' bike, in fact a fuckin' bike without a fuckin' saddle. I'd been a loyal consumer of the same product for all those years and this is how they repaid me. Happy, I was not! OK so I'm not married and I've never owned a Ford Fiesta but that's not the point. Since '77 I've bought "Clash" vinyl, "Generation X" vinyl and "Big Audio Dynamite" vinyl - begrudgingly I accepted the upgrade to CD - and what has this constancy got me? It's got me the download! The fuckin bike without a fuckin saddle! I'm reduced to asking someone to download the stuff and burn it on a CD for me. Yes I understand the process but you're never going to get me to say I like it. The free thing does nothing for me either I want to give some of my hard earned cash over to the band, so they can pay the driver, and so that the link between me and them is there, the link goes back centuries, back to when the punter paid the proverbial piper, but shit let's get rid of that as well. No physical product, no money to hand over, why should anyone feel passionate about a particular band anymore?

Again, I understand the process and if this is the only way we're going to get songs written and performed by Mick Jones I fucking accept it, but you're never going to get me to say I like it, so rant over, I'll try not to let it affect my opinion of "Carbon Bubble" 'cause when all is said and done "Carbon Bubble" is the best batch of songs by Jones & James to date. From the first passionate outburst from Jones on "Fresh Start" and its accompanying harmonica blast "Carbon Bubble" goes wonderfully against current trend radiating a big positive vibe. There is a good deal of nudge nudge wink wink to be had also, on the likes of "The Best Man" and "PartyWorld", and a bit of grit on "DisUnited Kingdon", but for the main it's positivity and passion infusing, enthusing, amusing.

As with previous Carbon/Silicon releases things are kept simple and succinct in production and in song structure there's no time wasted searching for an individual song sound. The solid riffs are teased out and the chords hit hard, it's all honest no frills stuff, song writing with a swagger and a grin. Ok so at times the vocal reverb bucket is far too deep and it would be a blessing to hear a human drummer bashing out an acoustic drum fill here and there, but as I keep saying I've accepted the process! The grainy "Reach for the Sky" is good stuff (good old Douglas Bader eh), I'm sure there's a bit of The Gang of Four's "Return the Gift" in the outro too. But the two tracks that stand out a mile on this batch are the punk rock n roll rip up of "What's up Doc" and the comic cartoon sing a long of "That's as good as it gets". To the eternal credit of the creators "Carbon Bubble" is set out to play like a proper album, and it does, concluding perfectly with the long slow grind of "Believe or Leave". The free download has killed the album review! All you need is an advert! I hope that's what I've done, click the link and enjoy - forza vinyl, forza Islington!
http://www.carbonsiliconinc.com

THIS IS NOT WHAT MUSIC LOOKS LIKE

THIS IS WHAT MUSIC LOOKS LIKE