Nothing like Hoodoo Gurus inviting you on their 25th anniversary super tour to inject a new lease of life into your band. According to front man Matt Tow, a ‘best of’ has been in the works for some time, and coming off the back of the Dig It Up! tour couldn’t be a more perfect time for Provenance to hit the shelves. The Dig It Up! bill featured both new and old bands that float the Gurus musical boat and no doubt attracted some fresh faces to the event. It’s these fresh faces that The Lovetones latest release is aimed at. It’s a fantastic introduction to the band’s back catalogue and at a time where psychedelic rock is experiencing a resurgence, it’s seems apt that the youth look to bands who have been playing it for over a decade.
The tracks are carefully chosen, with The Lovetones stronger and more immediately engaging songs making up the bulk of this release, as would be expected. Be What You Want, Love And Redemption, and Give It All I Can are all stand out tracks. If Provenance is your first exposure to the band, it showcases fantastically how deftly the songwriting echoes the greats – Stars sounds like Sgt Pepper era Beatles with a more contenporary shoegaze feel to it and Winter Time In Hollywood could have easily been penned by The Kinks main man Ray Davies. The Sound And The Fury from 2003’s Be What You Want album has touches of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with a ’60s psych edge.
Provenance is a well-rounded release; and a reminder of the wealth of Australian bands that too often get forgotten about. The retro revival, in all reality is nothing new and it’s important when you’re exploring for inspiring new sounds to take a look in your own backyard and rummage for all the treasure that slipped you by due to age, environment, or its inability to penetrate the musical landscape of the time. What’s happening now is great, but it’s good not to let it overshadow the fantastic musical gold that was produced in the not-so-long ago past.
BY KRYSTAL MAYNARD
Best Track: The Sound And The Fury
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: THE KINKS, THE BEATLES, BRIAN JONES TOWN MASSCRE
In A Word: Encompassing
