Consider 2005, if you can. There were many in the music press still believing the singing electricians (Oasis) to be the best thing ever, so it’s hardly a surprise that The Stands’ second album passed many people by. Lumbered with the Noel Gallagher curse of approval and a label that was failing financially – essentially dropping the band a fortnight before they released Horse Fabulous – they were up against it.
It also doesn’t help that Liverpool, the great city from which The Stands came, already had a group of lads who played guitar-based jangly indie pop when it didn’t have that name. However, it’s unfair to both blame The Beatles and compare the two bands. Distance changes perspective, because Horse Fabulous is, listening almost 20 years on, an absolute gem.
These are unequivocally pop songs, yet there are some sublime moments – from the trills on opening track Turn The World Around to the melancholic major to minor shift of the piano chords in Mountains Blue and the World Through My Window, to name just two. It has harmonies and melodies that deserve some attention, such as the backing vocals on Back To You. If you’re thinking it’s derivative, you’re probably remembering the language used in some of its harsher reviews.
The styles also vary across the album, from the straight out pop songs of the opening trio of tracks, to the Americana-influence of I Will Journey Home, which not only showcases a more laidback vibe but also highlights singer Howie Payne’s softer vocal, where the scouse whine is less obvious. As does the breakdown in the first part of Nearer Than Green, as the strings build and the whole track takes on a psychedelic hue before returning to the rock and pop riff that drives it along and then melting into what could be a guitar on its first trip.
While When The Night Falls In and Bluer Than Blue are more standard fare when it comes to 60s-inspired songwriting, the one song that is obviously influenced by their Liverpudlian forebearers, the belter that is Do It Like You Like, pulls the listener back into a night of revelry. If you heard it on some crime drama on Netflix it would not only set the mood but you’d be humming it for weeks afterwards. Rightly so.
This is music that reminds me of my earliest years, listening to my Mum’s record collection and delighting in what I heard. It feels like something comforting, yes, almost a set of songs you might already know. Yet, it’s full of blissful moments, get-up-and-dance riffs, and enough layers to reward repeat listens.