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Articles 94 | 96 | Reviews 94 | 96 Review for Too Sussed, Vox, August 1994:
These Animal Men - Too Sussed (Hi Rise) It's hard to envy These Animal Men, widely acclaimed as they are
as the leading lights of the movement that never existed. The fast
fading New Wave revival was fabricated by a few journalists and
bands, mostly white males in their 20's who just missed punk first
time round and were attempting to create a theme park recreation
today. None of which would matter if this Brighton foursome had an ounce
of the style or skill of the lineage they claim: The Who, The Manics
et al. Their debut mini-album contains one adequate three-chord
slammer 'Speeed King' and a touching teenage ballad 'You're Not
My Babylon', but the remainder are just feeble and forgettable.
These Animal Men can be a blast live and infectiously enthusiastic
in interviews, but their music is the bottom line. Rock bottom.
4/10
Review for "Too Sussed", Popscene Fanzine, Spring 94 It's been a busy year so far for These Animal Men, who have managed in a very short space of time both to get a couple of MPs frothing at the mouth about their 'inappropriate' lyrics, and get everyone else excited with their loud, edgy and to-the-point music. "Too Sussed?" rounds up their recent singles for anyone who missed them the first time around, and when all the tracks are lined up together, they make for a powerful and intense blast of melody and noise. 'Speeed King' is still several leagues above anything else on here, but when it comes accompanied by songs as good as 'You're Not My Babylon' and 'Jobs For The Boys', that's an irrelevancy. After years of being told that 'punk' now means miserable long-haired Americans in lumberjack shirts whining self-hating lyrics, it's great to be reminded of what it should be - a concise, noisy, three-minute burst of guitar pop with lyrics about banned BBC plays and hating fools who live for their office jobs. They may look like a bunch of escapees from the early years of "Grange Hill" (or even some "Krypton Factor" contestants who got badly lost during the assault course round), but These Animal Men aren't just retreading punk's past glories. They are as informed by the rebirth of British guitar pop as they are by the spirit of The Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks, and right now there's probably nothing that we need more. Tim Worthington
Review for (Come on Join)..., Vox, November 1994: These Animal Men - (Come on Join) The High Society (Hi Rise) Exactly what is new about the New Wave of New Wave? Judging by
(Come on Join) The High Society, it certainly isn't the music.
These Animal Men's debut, full-length album which does not include
their first two singles, (featured recently on a mini-LP) does,
however get off to a promising start. Steeped in teen spirit, 'Sharp
Kid' is a frantically fun, infectious opener, with a Buzzcocks type
charm also evident on 'Empire Building'. Soon though, the stripe-sporting,
speed-snorting Men start to sound increasingly one-dimensional.
Although the spunk quotient consistently remains impressively high,
there is too little melody to distinguish between songs. But 'You're
Always Right' and 'Flawed is Beautiful' do recall the promise of
early Manic Street Preachers.
Bite size reviews for (Come on Join,)...:
In the face of American grunge's slacker mentality, Britpop's retaliation
has a last-gang-in-town, mod-pop front, served with plenty of arrogant
cheek. So it goes with Brighton quartet These Animal Men, in their
matching Adidas gear, tufty hairdos, love of controversy (the drug
paean Speed King for one) and anthemic appeal. The opening Sharp
Kid sums it up but This Year's Model, Flawed Is Beautiful and We
Are Living flesh out the brief, fired up by buzzsaw guitars, snotty
vocals and manic street-preachiness. Ultimately, the band lack the
class pop structures of a Buzzcocks, Clash or Jam but fare better
with the mellower Empire Building and the title track, a reminder
of the archetypal grandiose anthem Mott The Hoople or The Boomtown
Rats built
Review for Come on Join... Popscene Fanzine, Autumn 94 It's fair to say that These Animal Men's debut album is going to hold no great surprises, but what's so wrong about that? Their singles have been among the most exciting and dynamic of a year that so far been bursting at the seams with exciting and dynamic singles, and an entire album full of this stuff is something very welcome indeed. Recent near-hit 'This Is The Sound Of Youth' vies for the honour of best track with the title track, 'You're Always Right' and the powerhouse opener 'Sharp Kid', but there are great moments throughout this album. Some sections of the music press have lately been given to sneering that These Animal Men are just following in the footsteps of The Manic Street Preachers, even to the extent of having their own Richey in the form of Hooligan. It's easy to understand why people are saying this, but it's also interesting to note that the Manics' debut "Generation Terrorists" was confused and overlong in places, whereas "(Come On Join) The High Society" is far more coherent and knows exactly where it's going from the first guitar chord. The Manics have recently delivered a blistering, malevolent masterpiece in "The Holy Bible", and on the evidence of this debut offering, it's certainly going to be an exciting moment when These Animal Men deliver their own equivalent in a couple of years time. Tim Worthington
Review
for Taxi for..., Vox, April 1995: These Animal Men - Taxi For These Animal Men (Hi Rise) These Animal Men prove that they're aiming for the great rock pantheon
with this five track mini-LP taster. 'My Human Remains' is a very
large ballad, burning brightly with a bitter beauty, all Bowie circa
Hunky Dory, Mott the Hoople and self styled '90s sharp kids
rolled into one. As ever they go for flawed, mannered, almost formal
phrases, rolling words around for the glorious sake of it and serving
them up with imploding guitar and a splash of drums. Lucy O'Brien
Articles 94 | 96 | Reviews 94 | 96
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