Britrock’s guiding lights reignite their Creation Records albums on red vinyl.
If you were there when 3 Colours Red burst into action with Pure (1997, 8/10), then the bass line of the album’s opening title track cannot fail to conjure the mighty stench of spilt beer baked into the bricks of Camden Town venues. For a couple of years there, Britrock genuinely felt like it could take on all the world.
If you were there, then it might feel hard to entirely separate the music from the giddy nostalgia, but Pure still sounds great. As Nuclear Holiday, This Is My Hollywood and Hateslick bound up to you like pitbulls possessed by the spirit of Sid Vicious, you can see why Alan McGee, the man who signed 3 Colours Red to Creation Records, believed them to be the next Oasis. As a bonus, 3CR were an actual rock band, with great big, chugging guitars from Chris McCormack and Ben Harding.
The thing that made the band so special would ultimately kill it, namely the personal tension between chief songwriters McCormack and singer/bassist. Only the leisurely and the dissonant taint the otherwise sky-high hit rate.
