The Power of Ten

Horse Guards Parade
From: Hull, United Kingdom

Following the feature on Horse Guards Parade back in September 2010 (Hold Your Horses) and their appearance in the Devil's top 10 of 2010 with Her Scabby Knees the band sent me a copy of their album, the straightforwardly titled Ten Songs.

I've been living with this album for over a week and it is a contender for the album of the year. If you want somewhere to file it then the best I can offer is psychedelic anti folk but Horse Guards Parade live in a world where genres are meaningless, a world where all that matters is how good is the song? It's uniquely English literate rock that has few parallels it's low key and understated in a brash world, it's literate in an illiterate world, it's reflective in a world of hustle and bustle.

The album gets off to an impressive start with the stunning 'Everybody's Going Back To Your House' rejecting the 'fakes and the phonies' and their drug fuelled orgies. It's so good that you think that it could all be downhill from here. But what's this galloping in? It's As The Plane Lifted Its Wheels to dispel that notion. If anything it's even better. God this is starting to feel like a classic.

It Ended in A Haze slows things down a little before the album really hits it's stride with the stand-out track 'She Looked Like A Henry Moore' a tale of an accountant seduced by the twin devil's of wine and women and including a twitter sized critique of macho rock 'Boys in bands have hearts of darkness. Too self absorbed to give a damn'. The weakest track on the album is Since You Fell Off My Axis which merely meanders where the rest of the album soars. Why oh why did they not replace it with the simply brilliant Her Scabby Knees?

The Treble Clef, with surely the world's first use of the word 'quantise' in a song, is almost too clever for it's own good but, thanks to a chorus sent from god himself, falls just the right side of smart assery. 'The Lies' is a rollicking rocker of a track. It's the sound of the band letting their hair down and loosening up. It's like the Wild Beasts letting their inner Status Quo loose and has hit single written all over it. Well maybe in a world where guitars aren't banned for appearing in the charts and upsetting the children. It'd make the perfect pay-off for the album but Horse Guards Parade don't play by the usual rules. The final two tracks take us back to the reflective mood with which we started and the album is complete. Then you just have to start it again because it's that good.

From today all albums will have to work even harder if they're to beat Ten Songs as the Devil's album of the year.

Go Try

Every body's going back to your house by Horse Guards Parade

Theres Sunshine on the Radio by Horse Guards Parade


Go Visit

Horse Guards Parade - Myspace : Website : Blog : Last.FM

Go View

Horse Guards Parade
Her Scabby Knees




Horse Guards Parade
The Lies



Horse Guards Parade
She Looked Like Henry Moore