I almost feel envious of people who have yet to discover the blissful, melodic sounds of Pugwash. They have a very loyal following in their native Ireland and around the United Kingdom, but they still aren’t a band you could describe as being a household name and their success has been a very modest one. At the time of writing, under three thousand people “like” the band on Facebook and, with the exception of their last studio album to date, the superb “The Olympus Sound”, Pugwash albums are very difficult to get hold of, with CD copies of older titles commanding a steep price on Amazon. This is why this new retrospective, “A Rose In A Garden Of Weeds: A Preamble Through The History Of Pugwash” is such great news, with the band getting their first ever album release in North America, courtesy of Omnivore Records. “A Rose In A Garden Of Weeds” brings together choice tracks from Pugwash’s five studio albums, “Almond Tea” (1999), “Almanac” (2002), “Jollity” (2005), “Eleven Modern Antiquities” (2008) and “The Olympus Sound” (2011), together with liner notes from Chris Collingwood (Fountains Of Wayne), rare photographs and contributions from collaborators.
As for collaborators, it’s astonishing that more people haven’t discovered Pugwash, given the fact that over their history they have worked with Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy), Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge (XTC), Jason Falkner (Jellyfish), Ben Folds, Michael Penn and Eric Matthews. Pugwash, as a band, have had an evolving line-up over the years, with frontman, main songwriter and ELO obsessive Thomas Walsh beginning his musical life recording demos in his garden shed, trying to emulate Andy Partridge, and ended up having his work recognised by Irish magazine “Hot Press”. This led to other opportunities and, with the help of Keith and Stephen Farrell, Walsh released his remarkable début, “Almond Tea” to critical acclaim. The Farrell brothers continued to work with Walsh right up to and including “Eleven Modern Antiquities”, after which the Pugwash nucleus changed. It wasn’t, however, a case of finding completely new musicians to continue the Pugwash story; current members Shaun McGee (soulful vocals and melodic bassist extraordinaire) and Tosh Flood (musical visionary, top guitarist and co-producer) can be found playing on “Almanac” and “Jollity” respectively (in fact, McGee appears on both), so there is a strong sense of continuity throughout their history. Together with Tosh’s ex-Saville bandmate Joey Fitzgerald who replaced ex-Frames drummer Johnny Boyle, the four current Pugs who made “The Olympus Sound” together are now, without question, one of the most exciting, engaging, brilliant and downright hilarious live acts you can see today.
As for the music itself, well Thomas Walsh doesn’t like the term “powerpop” and has said that he considers Beatles comparisons to be “lazy”, but it would be difficult to imagine that people who dig the powerpop genre or are aficionados of the Fab Four wouldn’t be the ideal audience for Pugwash. Indeed, when watching the band live, McGee’s bass work sounds like he’s channelling McCartney at his most melodic and inventive. However, the band’s whole output is much more diverse and all-encompassing for them to be simply typecast as another bunch inspired by The Beatles. On your journey throughout this compilation, there will be more influences worn on their sleeves than you will be able to keep track of and I would hope that the listener will come to the same conclusion that I have; Thomas Walsh simply writes music that he would enjoy listening to. The uplifting “Take Me Away” soars like mid-nineties Teenage Fanclub with a Beach Boys interlude, the whimsical “Monorail” has hints of Divine Comedy and McCartney, “Keep Movin’ On” channels upbeat Elvis Costello & The Attractions whilst incorporating a Harrison-esque guitar solo and “Finer Things In Life” is a heartbreakingly beautiful ballad that sounds like it could have been written by Jeff Lynne (whose favourite Pugwash song, by the way, is the sublime “Be My Friend Awhile”).
The creative wonders come thick and fast on this record. “Anyone Who Asks” delivers a hard, cascading riff over a dizzyingly powerful wall of sound and features an infectious refrain that will be stuck in your mind way before the song is over. The gorgeous reverb-soaked guitar of “Two Wrongs” is reminiscent of early nineties classic indie, “It’s Nice To Be Nice” is almost pure Beach Boys and Andy Partridge’s influence can be distinctly heard on “At The Sea”, a deliciously quirky but catchy tune which could easily have come from XTC’s own catalogue. “Fall Down” is a devastatingly brilliant track with harmonies, it seems, specifically designed to melt the soul whereas “Answers On A Postcard” is an eminently likeable, jaunty track with an apt seaside holiday feel to it and if you can get through the kazoo solo without grinning like a fool, I’d be surprised. “Here”, an absolute shimmering pearl of a song, is one of the best classic ballads the vast majority of the world hasn’t heard. If Robbie Williams had covered this track like he did World Party’s “She’s The One” (perish the thought), it would have been a chart topper and Pugwash would have been discovered by a lot more people a long time ago. I have to admit that part of me is very glad that it hasn’t been desecrated by an auto-tuned Williams vocal and a radio-friendly production; it’s perfect as it is. Another slice of utter pop perfection is the jangly “Apples”, with that irresistible Byrds-like guitar sound and a wonderful combination of a verse hook every bit as good as the chorus. I could go on, as every single track here is fantastic. They’re all my favourites, every single one of them.
Selecting the cream of these five studio albums to best represent the band’s history couldn’t have been easy. I’m not going to go into the omissions, because there is only so much music you can fit on to a single CD, but I can quite honestly say that I could compile another seventeen track disc full of songs from the Pugwash catalogue which would be almost as strong. Still, it is difficult to argue with the choices made and, as a single disc, “A Rose In A Garden Of Weeds” is packed full of gob-smackingly good songs which provides overwhelmingly compelling evidence that Pugwash are, indeed, one of the most criminally underrated bands that ever walked the Earth. Truly, one of the best things about being able to heartily recommend this introduction to Pugwash’s catalogue is that there is so much left to discover after you have heard and (inevitably) loved this. Every single Pugwash album is absolutely packed full of wonderful compositions; each studio album one of those rare pieces of work where every song matters, where there is no such thing as “filler” material. Once you have discovered Pugwash, they won’t just become a band you like, they will be one of those artists you attempt to persuade all your friends to listen to, you’ll become frustrated that they’re not much better known, you’ll share their music on social media; simply put, you’ll never be the same again. Are you ready for that kind of commitment? Once you buy this album, there will be no turning back…
Track listing:
1. Take Me Away (from “Eleven Modern Antiquities”)
2. Monorail (from “Almanac”)
3. Keep Movin’ On (from “Almanac”)
4. Finer Things In Life (from “Almond Tea”)
5. Anyone Who Asks (from “Almanac”)
6. Shine On Norvell Jefferson (from “Almond Tea”)
7. Two Wrongs (from “Almond Tea”)
8. A Rose In A Garden Of Weeds (from “Jollity”)
9. It’s Nice To Be Nice (from “Jollity”)
10. At The Sea (from “Eleven Modern Antiquities”)
11. Fall Down (from “The Olympus Sound”)
12. Answers On A Postcard (from “The Olympus Sound”)
13. Heal Me (bonus track from the 2012 re-issue of “The Olympus Sound”)
14. Here (from “Eleven Modern Antiquities”)
15. Apples (from “Almanac”)
16. Anchor (from “Jollity”)
17. Be My Friend Awhile (from “The Olympus Sound”)
Pugwash’s career retrospective “A Rose In A Garden Of Weeds” is released on September 23rd, 2014, on Omnivore Records, available directly from them or from other big online retailers, such as Amazon. Pugwash are also touring the US during October 2014, details can be found on their Facebook page.
