King Adora - Who Do You Love
It's hard to imagine that back in 2000 when they emerged onto the scene, King Adora were hailed as the saviours of rock 'n' roll. Sleazy, sexy and with more slap than Jordon on a night out, the four Brummies caused a stir with tales of rock 'n' roll debauchery and excess. However, after a year of sold out tours, packed festival appearances and three top 40 singles, they vanished, the butt of a fickle music presses jokes. Whilst many bands would have given up and accepted an existence of working 9 to 5 for a mobile phone company (hello ex-Menswear members) the Adora soldiered on and have returned with more determination than ever.
'Who Do You Love' is the follow up to their 'Vibrate You' debut of three years ago and is packed with more tales of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Spread over 13 tracks the album features bored housewives, the joys of kinky sex and futile love affairs. If King Adora are one thing it's certainly not subtle. Musically blending elements of the New York Dolls, the Sex Pistols and Mansun (in fact 'Depression' has more than a passing resemblance to 'Being A Girl'...) it's a mix that works well on stage but as with their debut, doesn't translate too well to record. Although not moving on very far from where 'Vibrate You' left off, they still manage to pack a punch with tracks like 'Kamikaze', 'Boy For Rent' and 'Death By Rock N Roll' but fall flat with 'Born 2 Lose' and 'Depression' which teeter on the edge of a Manics fan parody. Whilst I don't doubt the sincerity Maxi has, it remains to be seen just how long he can continue singing (and writing) about 'selling my teenage skin' without ending up like Brett Anderson.
It seems a shame that whilst the Darkness receive critical acclaim, King Adora remain firmly shunned by the established music press. So they may lack a certain grace at times but it's gutsier and a great deal dirtier than anything the Lowestoft lovelies could produce which in my book makes it a hell of a lot more fun.