Kubichek! – ‘Outwards’ (30:30) Released 04/12/06

Inescapable rock humanitarian Bono recently successfully sued a former U2 stylist for the return of his cowboy hat.  If he is equally protective of his band’s early 80’s sound Kubichek! might be wise to have a good lawyer on standby. It’s all here – insistent, reverb-heavy guitar riff, the Adam Clayton-patented one-string bass technique.  But rather than focusing on a Cold War uprising or some similarly worthy subject matter the rousing, stadium-filling vocal appears to be concerned with a tortuous lurve situation. You can’t fault their conviction, and 'Outwards' probably goes down a storm live. But it’s difficult to get really excited about a song without any identifiably original component.