being 747 - Weathergirl ep

Written by Tim Peacock

Although rather easier on the little grey cells after the brain-flaying melodrama of THE SCARAMANGA SIX, BEING 747 are no less tempting a proposition as this debut 4-track single admirably - if more slightly subtly - proves.

Actually, BEING 747 have claws in THE SCARAMANGA SIX camp, too, as their line-up also features the Morricone brothers doing frenetic juggling acts between keyboards, bass and drums to augment undisputed leader/singer/ songwriter DAVE COOKE.

"Weathergirl" itself kicks off and is both immediate and quite lovely. Samples of thunder and lightning frame teardrop vibrato guitar and an easy skanking rhythm with a full-blooded organ supporting Cooke on the chorus. Wow. Wonder if this ever made the earth move for SVEN and ULRIKA folks? "Mind Of A 12-Year Old" comes next. Janglesome and familiar, it has definite echoes of BENNY PROFANE'S "Man On The Sauce" (delve into your Scouse pop yearbook), with the off-beat keyboard whooshes easing it into a swinging chorus and overall it's a winning mix of innocence and cynicism.
The final tracks, "Use Your Friends" and - especially - "Lover No.1" are rather more souped -up. "Use Your Friends" has echoes of both PULP and BABY BIRD'S Steven Jones and the great chorus: "Chew them, use them, spit them out!" rattles around for ages afterwards. An ambitious fucker's anthem if ever there was.
"Lover No.1" is BEING 747 at their least civilised. Again, there are enticing vibrato guitars and a "Nuggets"- style beat group atmosphere, only for this to be dashed by the grunge-y maelstrom of the chorus. Unclassifiable and (stretching a point) "quirky", BEING 747 may become all things to all people, but as the old Chinese proverb your reviewer's just coined says, it's a foolish man who walks backwards into the cave of the snow cat, so don't dare take your eyes off this lot either.

Like a meteor cannoning into a mountainside, you could say WRATH Records have arrived.

(8/10) (TIM PEACOCK) .

2002 www.whisperinandhollerin.com