The Ripps – ‘Holiday’

Coventry three piece The Ripps' previous offering, ‘Loco’ was a high energy piece of sublime punk power pop. Sadly, their latest effort doesn’t come close to the raucous heights of its predecessor. ‘Holiday’ is in the same vein as before, an up tempo, vigorous Supergrass style romp that tells the story of a drunken night out while on, err, holiday. The same rocket pace is still present and correct but its been joined by an intensely irritating fairground organ that keeps cropping up throughout and annoying the hell out of you. Singer Patch Lagunas’ chirpy vocals also grate, coming across like Damon Albarn from Parklife era Blur but without whatever charm Albarn had.

B-side ‘Black Eye’ is a scuzzed up surf guitar garage rock romp that whizzes by and appears to be stitched together from God knows how many garage bands. Unfortunately it falls apart quickly, manages to be totally unmemorable and is a good example of bands lobbing anything out as a b-side. Despite all the speed on show there’s little in the way of decent tunes here, making this a real step back for The Ripps.

Released 11/06/07 on Catskill Records