Sandman Magazine
review by Mark Sturdy

Being 747 - Album of the month

Fun And Games (Wrath Records) Being 747 are many things, but 'easy to pin down' isn't one of them. Their name's a crap pun, but they're anything but a comedy band. They describe themselves as 'AviationThemed Pop', but that's a red herring too. There are no air travel references, and it's musically too loud and propulsive and lyrically too literate and knowing to be straight pop music. There's something you can't quite put your finger on that makes this debut album a bit different - a bit special, even.

Opening track 'Swingball' was a single a while back, and quite right too because it's tops. 'Use Your Friends', possibly familiar to some from 2002's 'Weathergirl' EP, features some gloriously misanthropic lyrics ("Use them, chew them, spit 'em out - let the world work for you and, in common with many of the songs here, some organ work that would do Ian McLagan and Joe Meek proud.

Other highlights include the lovely 'Target Proctice' - a graceful, loping ballad wherein Dave informs us that "I was born with a spring in my step and a heart that could thump all day, but somebody here's taken aim and shot me down." What's next?
"I got up with a hole in my head, spat out my brains and said 'That's nothingl"' He still wants you to stop using him as target practice, though. It sounds like it might be a bitter song, but it's not at all, and somehow manages to be quite uplifting.

Credit is also due to the Pop Idol-baiting 'The Music Of The Clones', featuring the fantastic line "Her mother went to see her live / Too late, they've all been synthesized". Alright, it's a tired topic, but it's a point well made in an original way. Elsewhere, certain songs recall Hefner at their most to-the-point and least whiny, and a few rather touching, notably 'The One We Did Last Monday' and the lovely closer 'The Girl Who Fell Asleep Whilst Watching Her Life Flash Before Her Eyes'.

Practically everything here is insanely catchy and brilliantly executed - it might take a couple of spins, but you won't want this CD out of your tray for ages. A treasure trove of richly intelligent pop.

Trakmarx.com

Being 747 - Fun & Games’

Wrath Records Head Honchos (The Morricone Brothers) join forces with Dave Cooke for the debut LP from Being 747. Operating in the kind of theatre usually reserved for the absurd, Being 747’s skew whiff take on the left-field modern pop vernacular is intelligently manufactured, beautifully realised & perfectly formed. Wrath Records have been making Leeds an interesting place to come from for the best part of the last 3 years & Fun & Games is testament to that fact. Shades of Pulp, The Fatima Mansions & SFA - Being 747 have the sense of humour to make you smile & the tunes to hold your attention while you do so.

Buddy Dion - tMx 13 - 01/04