Albums

Meretto - Street Talking

Richard Wink 02/12/2009

Rating: 1/5

Who'd have thought the likes of Hard-Fi and The Ordinary Boys would leave behind a legacy; that Richard Archer and the man known only as Preston were (are?) influential lyricists and not just a couple of well groomed Fred Perry wearing goons. One of the curious features of being a small time music writer is discovering how many guitar bands are releasing watered down versions of Stars of CCTV and Over the Counter Culture. I find this fact to be bloody astonishing!

“Lads getting violent / police and other sirens / chavs sporting white shoes / girls that are quite loose”. The chorus of 'Bust' sums up Saturday nights down most City vomit miles. But it's been summed up in 'From the Ritz to the Rubble' and 'Geezers Need Excitement' far more eloquently. We get it, you've seen a dust up outside a kebab place, witnessed some chubby wench lifting her skirt to reveal a jolly good beaver. Who cares?

Familiarity brings contempt; therefore Meretto makes me very angry indeed. The token use of electronica towards the end of the album is rendered irrelevant by the heap of dung that comes before. I fail to understand why a band that contains an academically qualified muso is unable to present anything innovative, or perhaps more pertinent - anything interesting. Meretto are musically competent, but woefully bland. What's worse is that there appear to be no ideas evident on this release, with no actual thought behind what they are doing. Instead of attempting to make some kind of relevant social commentary they merely spout empty rhetoric.

I'm at a loss, like a vulture circling over a maggot riddled carcass, I could swoop down and pick this album to pieces song by song, but it's probably best I end here…..

Modern Life is Rubbish, isn't it? Basically that's what Street Talking is attempting to say.

Release Date: 16 November 2009