In praise of Deckard, possibly the unluckiest band to almost have walked the planet…

DECKARD
Stereodreamscene
2001 – Warner Brothers

While some bands are just plain unlucky, it would appear that others are basically cursed.

Y’know, like sometime, somewhere a witch dropped a hex in the street and the main creative force behind a typically unlucky band of minstrels stepped on it, dragged it to rehearsal and accidentally jinxed the fortune of the band forever.

And then there are Deckard.

Not to be confused with the German hip hop outfit, Deckard, possibly the unluckiest band to almost have walked the planet, unfortunately never really broke out of Glasgow.

This tragic four-piece began their lives as Baby Chaos, a fresh-faced bunch of Scots with a deft knack of penning hits-to-be and mixing up the brew with fearsome heaviness and math-core tightness. Led by charm-blessed frontman Chris Gordon, this potent crew attempted to plough a furrow in the UK rock scene at a time when grunge was being replaced by Britpop.

By 1998, after two excellent albums (1994’s Safe Sex, Designer Drugs And The Death Of Rock N Roll, and 1996’s Love Your Self Abuse) Baby Chaos became justifiably disillusioned with a largely disinterested industry and retreated to lick wounds, regroup, write some new tracks and rename the band Deckard.

Adding ex-Jesus Jones drummer Simon Gen Matthews, after the heartbreaking retirement of BC drummer Davy Greenwood, due to health problems, the remaining members (guitarist Grant McFarlane and bassist Bobby Dunn) joined Gordon to record the first album under the new name. While still stuck with, er, I mean signed to Warners, the new moniker for the startlingly inefficient East West label, and attempting to negotiate a new deal with US Reprise label, things would not look too healthy for the world’s unluckiest band.

And then it all went wrong, again, this time even wronger than it had previously went, which was very wrong indeed.

The recordings of 2000’s Stereodreamscene would be shelved and criminally ignored in favour of the burgeoning nu-metalisms of Korn and the ilk.

Without an easy market this startling album would gather dust, eventually being granted a half-hearted release by Warners long after the point was well and truly missed.

Great music will always rise through the grime but someone has to actually release the bloody thing in the first place.

Thankfully, thanks to the wonderful internet, there are still very limited, but very definite outlets, such as Amazon and eBay, where this wondrous album can occasionally be found today. I can’t urge you strongly enough to avail yourself of this gem of a record, if only to own a piece of history in the shape of possibly the most criminally neglected album of all time.

Stereodreamscene is nothing short of astounding.

Opening up with ‘What Reason’ the quality of the production is the first thing readily apparent from the listening experience, closely followed by the crystal clarity of Chris Gordon’s wonderful voice, and then, finally, THAT chorus hits you like a double-barreled discharge of sheer class. Just when you think you’ve had yourself a perfectly great hook, shouted at you like a public service announcement, the second half of the chorus drags your limp resolve around the dance floor like a throughly thankful rag doll as wave after wave of melody wash over your inert form. Absolutely marvelous.

With such an elegant introduction, Stereodreamscene eases into the journey with the effortlessly appealing ‘Remain This Way’, mixing almost trip hop rhythms with a Bacharachian control of understated melody creating a timeless fusion of classic elements.

This is the perfect scenario in which to set up glorious third track ‘Conversation’, the last segment of the opening barrage that solidifies the albums intent by mixing pure rock pop with grand orchestral arrangement and establishing a quality and scope that never once, not once, lets up throughout the entire duration of this awesome listen. ‘Conversation’ has one of the greatest multi-tier choruses ever put to record, flowing in ever broadening strokes, creating a gloriously dizzying, slightly exhausting result by the songs climax.

‘Christine’ tells of a friend longing for a sex change using classic punk/pop-rock chugging with which to relate the tale, and as another great chorus offers way more than expected within the context of the musical style one thought resonates heavily. There are many great tunesmiths out there and there are many great pop rock bands, and not many share the same dressing room, know what I mean?

Rest assured, dear listener, this thought will reoccur through this album. This is very classy fare indeed.

For me the absolute shining spear of diamond in this sea of liquid gold is the sublime ‘Still’, a song that moves me almost to tears even after almost 10 years of pretty regular airing. Like all great songs I’m not even sure why this song moves me so, but once that incredibly stirring refrain of “still you’re breathing, surefire something’s here that I can believe in” lands then I’m lost in its esoteric power. As with all mesmerising music explanation is often redundant. It gets ya or it does not get ya. All I can say is that if I ever get drafted I’ll be playing this song when I’m getting ready to jump the bunker.

And as I sit here, the song resounding in the room, yet again, the thrill of first hearing it floods through the channel of memory marked Deckard, timeless, ageless, peerless. ‘Still’ is the sound of perfect synchronicity.

The Radiohead comparisons of ‘Wasted At your Wing’ are purely complimentary. There are moments in The Bends where Radiohead get it so right, and ‘Wasted At Your Wing’ could have been one of those moments. Slow burning and aching with ghost like regret it acts as the perfect bridge between the grand monolith of ‘Still’ and the imminent and resounding pop fireworks of ‘Once There Was A Girl’. Perfect pacing is the basis of every truly great album and Stereodreamscene has a running order that is the definition of charm itself. And as ‘Once There Was A Girl’ throws hook after hook from the speakers it is with an almost false sense of security that the listener is disarmed and left unprepared for the emotional hammering to follow next.

‘Christine II’ shares the same confessional sentiment as Cooper Temple Clause’s ‘Waiting Game’ with its male protagonist painfully telling the girl of the story what she isn’t prepared to hear, that things change and people move on. If you’ve ever been in this most dreadful of situations then this song should speak to you like mother tongue. Cruel and definite, life often has beauty masked in painful experience otherwise how would we grow as an emotional species? Sometimes the only pleasure you can take from certain experiences is that of the songs written from the same page. ‘Christine II’ is one of the better ones ever penned on relationship shift, and that is some recommendation. Still gives me goosebumps to this day.

‘Today Is A New Chapter’ returns to a much more familiar style of bouncy pop/rock, albeit buff with added songwriting savvy, and ‘Sycamore’ revisits the delicate Walker Brother-isms of Radiohead, building and dipping in dramatic masterstrokes. Leaving only ‘Bear’ to round things off nicely with a nursery rhyme and a promise that the next spin of this neat little piece of work will be even more rewarding.

I’ve honestly been playing thios album on heavy rotation for the last eight years and it still stands up to the best of any UK releases of the past 30 years.

People of the UK often exhibit a disturbing tendency to dismiss homegrown talent if it isn’t an instant hit with journalists and DJs alike, but please believe me that the reason you haven’t heard, and already love this album is sheer record company laziness and their ugly desperation to lavishly follow trends. Now the idiocy of those same records companies has been seen to destroy their bloated empire it’s prime time to uncover some of the pearls that ignorant A&R departments had left to die an inglorious death.

The unluckiest band in the world? Without a doubt. Still, on Stereodreamscene they did themselves a great service, and as some bands never manage to actualise their ambitions on record this satisfying collection of songs is something to be truly proud of.

If you are lucky enough to find a copy of this album online then do snap it up, and if you see two then buy the other copy for someone that you love.

It’ll be a purchase that you will not regret making.

The label is dead, long live the artist.