The Telescopes - Taste

The Telescopes- Taste (1989)


Let's dig on into the Jimmy Rock 'n Roll record archives, shall we? The Telescopes. Where to start? This is their first album.  The cover kind of looks like it's a Sisters Of Mercy Album, but it ain't.  The band name and year of release might make you think this is a Smiths-esque band, but it ain't.  Who exactly then are these Telescopes, then? I'm glad you asked.

Well, The Telescopes went on to be recognized as an important Shoegaze band (and even later on an experimental electronic band after a period of disbanding and reuniting), but they certainly aren't a Shoegaze band here.  The Telescopes humble beginnings on their debut are that of a noise-rock band. A very aggressive noise rock band. The only exception to that would be the opening track, And Let Me Drift Away, with is mellow and beautiful. It even has strings and brass instrumention on it! After this the music, sonicly speaking, goes straight to hell. Singer/Screamer Stephen Lawrie sounds like his throat is about to implode at times when he's at his most intense on this. Hell, my throats hurts after just hearing some of this guy's screams on here. The guitars on here are loud and nasty. Think of Sonic Youth and The Jesus & Mary Chain at their loudest and most aggressive moments. When they aren't spinning out of control with atonal noise they play some good down and out riffs, and when they're melodic they're still mean. There's a nice psychedelic twinge to the songs on here as well.

They rhythm section is a bit of a casualty on here. Bass guitar and drums get pushed way to the back of the mix. I've heard worse mixes on things, but it really stands out.  Come to think of it this is a lot like the first Jesus & Mary Chain release, lots of guitars and noise and not much bottom end. The guitars and the noise are the real showcase on here. A bit stronger of a bottom end would have really made this already heavy masterpiece even heavier.

It's a great album. A few years down the line other bands would be doing this kind of thing in perhaps a more polished way, being more successful at it and calling it Grunge/Alternative/etc... Sadly this success eluded The Telescopes as by that point they were already close to the end of their career and had upgraded their sound to something more soothing and spacey.

Bottom line: It's great. Get it.