Album Reviews |

Bang Bang Machine



Eternal Happiness 8½ ( 1994 )
Technologica / Bloodlines / A Charmed Life / 16 Years / Give You Anything / Love That Burns / Lovely Lily / God Based Angels / Moon Jelly

Makers of the immortal 'Geek Love' returned in 1994 with their full length debut LP. Before I proceed, my version contains the tracklisting as given above and a bonus 12" containing 'Geek Love' and 'God Bless'. You can either try and track down the LP through the usual downloading places, or order it, link given at the bottom of the page. In 1992, 'Geek Love' topped John Peel's 'Festive Fifty'. A glorious, life changing song, we all waited with baited breath for a follow-up. When it eventually came, it was clear the band weren't about to produce another 'Geek Love' and even fans turned their backs on the group. A group that had minimal distribution and never sold any records anyway. Actually getting a copy of 'Geek Love' has taken many fans of that tune a good ten years plus. Thank heavens for the internet, is all I can say. Sure makes it a lot easier to track down such things. Anyway, listening to 'Eternal Happiness' all these years later just makes me wish we'd all done more for the band whilst they were still around. This is a fabulous album, 'Geek Love' or no 'Geek Love'. Were 'Eternal Happiness' to be released as a new album today, we'd all be ranting and raving about it. It certainly beats Kasabian, Yeah Yeah Yeahs or whatever other mediocrity the music press is currently raving about. When the album kicks off with 'Technologica', fans of 'Geek Love' will immediately spot the differences. There's a deep, very danceable bass groove. Still, the phased guitars are there and the immortal vocals of lead singer, Elizabeth. Guitarist Steve Eagles gets going a little later on in the track, but it's the vocals that add the icing on the cake. Less wispy than when they appeared on 'Geek Love', this time around Elizabeth adds a slight steel aka Siouxsie Sioux to her vocal approach. Only slight mind, but it's there. 'Technologica' is a great opener, when we consider it was recorded 12 years ago the fact that it still sounds very modern is also a plus. Whilst there's only a couple of 'Geek Love' challengers in the style of that song on the LP, what else is here is nearly always as impressive in its own less ambitious way. Steve Eagles gets his guitar sounds all over the place, the singer never sounds less than captivating. The material on the whole is a mix of dance undertones added to indie guitar sounds welded to a strange hybrid of 80s and 90s indie production values. Yes, it's also better than my attempt at a description of it!

If you only want to download a taster from the LP, get '16 Years'. It's a similar length to 'Geek Love' and similarly structured, yet with the added dance undertones in the bass sounds. The lyrics aren't quite as evocative and there isn't that crunching dynamism that made 'Geek' so special, but then again. Comparing this to that is comparing this to one of the all time greatest tunes ever. I'm being slightly unfair in that respect. Rest assured, everyone that's ever heard this band, or should do, will adore the mighty '16 Years'. Elsewhere? An indie dance-floor stomper with the catchy 'Give You Anything'. The classic 'Lovely Lily'. Now, the guitar sound of Steve Eagles is all over 'Lovely Lily', 'Geek Love' condensed into four minutes and turned into a pop song. It's excellent, it really is. 'Love That Burns' reminds me slightly of 'Lamb' or one of those other late nineties dance/alternative crossover acts. So, 'Bang Bang Machine' were ahead of their time? Well, yes. It almost doesn't even need saying. I also suspect that the rest of the music world hasn't really caught up yet to the potential this band had, and already displayed throughout the grooves of a record such as this, 'Eternal Happiness' indeed.

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Readers Comments Mr B garyhess44@hotmail.com Yes indeed BBM wre a great band. I worked as BBM's lighting tech for 4 years and so have seen them many times.Great energy on stage and great people as well. Liz always looked and sounded great, Steve is the best guitar player have ever seen. (seen a few) Stan (ex Wrathchild) held agreat bass line And lamp always there on his kit.. A truly great band. I agree they were well ahead of there time. You never know they may do it again one day? Mr B

this page last updated 11/01/07