Cherry Red Records (label)
25 June 2012 (released)
15 June 2012
A reunion of The Christians is hardly on the Pink Floyd Live 8 scale. Indeed it is with a sense of trepidation more than intrigue that you first listen to Speed of Life, the band’s first release since 2003. They are not a band that many people would have missed and their chart legacy is just one top ten single.
But the statistics are a bit cruel as they were a better band than that suggests. It is 25 years since the band first enjoyed chart success with a unique blend of soul and pop, a thinking man’s Wet Wet Wet, if you like. Typically eighties in a way, the band did manage to last into the nineties but their style of radio friendly, slightly worthy lyrics became unfashionable.
Garry Christian's voice has held up well, off the back of a few eighties reunion tours no doubt and while not breaking new ground, Speed of Life does manage to lift the band to some degree into 2012 by sounding relatively fresh.
Not in the same league as some of their hits, like the excellent Hooverville for example, Speed of Life is a pleasant reminder of a time when well sung vocals and sensibly structured songs were more common. Fellow new track Overwhelmed is actually more interesting but less catchy, and might mean that August's Speed of Life album will see them more than just going through the motions.
