A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Hand On Heart LP by Cock Sparrer. While it would be easy for critics to claim that there are a finite number of ways to make an English-sounding or uniquely “Bostonian” punk record (see Dropkick Murphys’ catalogue for a Cliff’s Notes summary of that story so far), it should definitely go to Cock Sparrer’s credit that the band has managed to produce a solid and captivating listen in their Hand On Heart LP without deviating far from what it has been long-established are their strengths. How the band has accomplished this for their eighth album is really, really simple: as they’ve always done, Cock Sparrer ambitiously tries to change exactly nothing about their sound, and simply stands up to be seen and make no excuse for where they’ve been for the last seven years [the most recent seven-year gap in output marks the longest in the band’s catalogue –ed] or why it took so long to basically make a carbon copy of their 2017 album, Forever.
As soon as needle catches groove and “With My Hand On My Heart” (which is about as close as the album gets to having a title track) erupts from speakers, long-time fans may feel gratified to find that not much has changed in the band’s overall sound, while those with a more critical ear, may be able to pick out a few potential problems. Right away, for example, singer Colin McFaull sounds every day of the fifty-four years he’s spent on the mic for Cock Sparrer; his voice isn’t haggard from use, but certainly comes off as wooden and nowhere near as flexible as one would hope to find in front of a punk band. Likewise, lines like “Do the right thing, sometimes take one for the team/ Don’t let compromise light the path to someone else’s dream/ I’ll be right here to the end from the start/ This I swear with my hand on my heart” bear little resemblance to the sense of youthful rebellion normally associated with punk, and while the instrumental performances put down by guitarists Daryl Smith and Mick Beaufoy, bassist Steve Burgess and drummer Steve Bruce all ring as the kind of solid and incendiary punk that fans expect and completely and welcome, it’s still hard not to feel like they’re running through the motions; like competent professionalism over aggressive expression.
After the smooth start of “With My Hand On My Heart,” Cock Sparrer continues to earnestly fill out the form and sound of the album. “Mind Your Own Business” strikes a pretty good balance between McFaull’s vocal tone and the almost lyrical hook of the lead guitar hook, while the whole band chips in to enrich the sound of “Belong To You” (which sounds counterintuitive for punk in theory, but works very well in practice), but everyone in the band erases any ground they might have won when “Rags To Riches” throws every “old man” cliche squarely into listeners’ collective face [the “I ain’t got a pound for a round” line sounds like it might have been lifted right out of William H. Macy’s dialogue in an episode of Shameless –ed] and forces them to just sit and stare at them for four minutes and twenty seconds – and basically defining the idea of being “all dressed up with nowhere to go” in so doing. Listeners will at least feel a little redeemed when “No Way Out” runs closer to being a genuine pop-punk anthem to close the side. There, McFaull makes the most of having the song’s hook in his mouth every time he barks the “No way out” lyrical rejoinder, and Steve Bruce makes sure that listeners don’t miss the point as he hammers every syllable home with his drum kit. After that, when the song ends and needle lifts, listeners will probably be amiable enough to flip the record over and see what else Cock Sparrer has for them but, unlike innumerable other records where the decision of whether or not to continue on with the record is absolute, the answer here is far more open-ended; on the right day, listeners may be game for more but, on the wrong day, they might decide that one side was enough – then they can pick up at a later date – maybe.
Unfortunately, the B-side does not open anywhere near as well as the high points established on the A-. Right off at the top of “Take It On The Chin,” McFaull exposes every flaw in his vocal performance and, as was true during “Rags To Riches” simply forces listeners to sit with them; they’ll find themselves flinching at every imperfection in the vocal and blinking at every crash on the drum kit, and they’ll find themselves overjoyed when the song taps out four minutes and fifteen seconds after it started. “One Way Ticket” suffers from similar problems in that the horn section which inexplicably appears as soon as the song starts immediately saturates the song’s movement. Listeners will feel completely restrained and stifled as what sounds like an orchestra rather than a lean and contained horn section tries t buoy but ultimately drowns the instrumentation in the song, and the vocal performance ends up sounding more like a secondhand Springsteen cast-off than than anything anyone would expect of a self respecting punk band. Unfortunately, the higher register tones endure through “Nowhere To Be Found” immediately after “One Way Ticket” too and may cause listeners’ ears to ring as the treble seems to increase throughout the song to torment them for four minutes. Simply said, while the A-side of the album had moments which occasionally tested listeners patience, the B-side seems intent on pressing its luck every step of the way through it to the point that, when “Here We Stand” arrives to close out the running, listeners who have run front-to-back with with Hand On Heart may find themselves exhaling sharply in equal amount of frustration and derision that the album is coming to an end with a laden thud. In “Here We Stand,” once again, all of the elements which have just sought to detract from the band’s sound (that McFaull’s voice is a ghost of its former powers, that the lyrics aren’t great and that the solid instrumental performances) end up amplifying those shortcomings instead of covering for them, and then the whole thing just sort of collapses in on itself at album’s close.
So, if readers have managed to make it all the way through this review and are still (somehow) unclear on how this the final summary of the album is going to read, Hand On Heart is an unrelenting disappointment – and will be particularly frustrating for those who remember the calibre of the group in their prime. Where Cock Sparrer was once a spry, angry and dismissive entity who once took more than a little bit of joy in spitting in listeners’ ears, the band just doesn’t have the energy to spare, if they want to get worked up. It never feels good to tell a band they need to retire, but that’s the point we’re at, with Hand On Heart. [Bill Adams]
Artist:
http://www.cocksparrer.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/cocksparreruk
https://www.instagram.com/cocksparrer
Album:
Cock Sparrer’s Hand On Heart LP is out now. Buy it here, directly from Pirates Press Records.
