Originally published by L.S. Media. March 25th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating *****
If you want an album that will really get the toes tapping in time to the beat of a heart that is being governed by the sound of excellent music then in all honesty you really couldn’t go far wrong that to purchase and revel in Hot Wire, the new album by Hue and Cry.
There will be those that the name rings a vague, distant bell to. Memories of songs such as Labour of Love and Looking for Linda will trigger somewhere in the recess and make them smile. However that was then, the late 80’s was a very long time ago and before anybody thinks ‘ah, another 80’s band desperate to crawl their way back into the public conscious’ hold that thought and feel ashamed as brothers Patrick and Gregory Kane have never been away. Thankfully the music is still incredible and takes you places that some bands leave off the trail. If this is, as some critics might suggest, another feeble attempt by musicians that are well left in their time, then ignore them, this is an album of sheer warmth, of technical musical brilliance and an absolute joy to listen to, over and over again.
Hot Wire opens with the tremendous Duty to the Debtor, the first single to be taken from the album and its upbeat soul lyrics tempered with a sound that takes you back to the jazz clubs of pre-second World War New York with the addition of the fantastic vocals of Patrick Kane make it one of the finest openings to an album this year. It is easy to dismiss a band when they haven’t been in the overall public psyche; the thought that just because a group of musicians don’t give the charts any relevance then they can’t be good or interesting is a fallacy that needs taking apart.
With songs such as the Hand and Heart, If You Want Changes and Carlos Takes the Fall littering the album like nuggets being laid by the proverbial Golden Goose playing every conceivable brass instrument then this Hot Wire should be considered as not just an album to buy but to play loudly, invite every neighbour round and take in whilst feeling the absolute joy behind every single note. Not everything that came from the eighties should be ignored!
Ian D. Hall