The Last Shadow Puppets - 'Standing Next To Me'
In the great Punk vs. Prog Rock wars of the late '70s, one of the main criticisms the punkers levelled at the proggers was that their songs went on for far too long, and were pompous, often failing to get to the point, even if they had one. And if you consider that, apart from power-pop, the Wombles and the bum end of glam rock, songs which went on for too long and were pompous were pretty much the only type of song on offer at the time, it's not hard to see why such a state of affairs should come to pass.
Fast forward to today, and we have a curious situation which would probably make any graduate of the class of '76 curl up on the floor sobbing in confusion.
A song which is a bit pompous, a song which is anything but lyrically direct, and which is a little bit full of itself...but only clocks in at two minutes and 20 seconds. Yeah, feel that tension in your shoulders? That'll be those nice safe boundaries falling down. You're on your own now. It's just you and your personal taste in music to keep you company. Brrr!
OK, slightly over-dramatic there, but you have to admit, when it comes to over-dramatic, they started it. Or at least, Scott Walker started it in the '60s and they re-started it, after it ran out of steam.
This is presumably why the video is yet another '60s TV show pastiche (thanks, Richard Ayoade-out-of-The-IT-Crowd) complete with miniskirted kiddygirls in bunches doing a go-go routine*, and Miles Kane actually dressed as Scott Walker. Meanwhile Alex Turner is dressed as George Harrison, which is a little confusing, but thematically it still works, so we'll go with it.
And I think that's the way it's going to have to go with the song as a whole. It's true to its own Scott Walker-obsessed internal logic, and it's been done rather well, so it's hard to be too critical.
That said, the middle bit is superfluous, and doesn't really work if you take the go-go girls away. Which does leave the bizarre thought that it's possible for a song this short to actually outstay its welcome.
See, Mr Punker? Things are not so scary after all...
Download: Out now
CD Released: June 30th
(Fraser McAlpine)
*PS: Keep your eye on the girl on the far right of the screen who isn't really making as much effort as the others. She must be the cool one.
Comments Post your comment