''Blow'' is the fourth studio album by British rock band

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, also known very briefly as the Lorries, are an English rock band formed in Leeds in early 1981 by guitarist and songwriter Chris Reed, vocalist Mark Sweeney, bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown. After breaking up i ...

, released in 1989, and their last LP on the

Beggars Banquet ''Beggars Banquet'' is the 7th British and 9th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 6 December 1968 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States. It was the first Ro ...

offshoot label,

Situation Two Situation Two (a.k.a. Situation 2) was a British independent record label founded in 1981 by Peter Kent as an offshoot of the Beggars Banquet label. At the time, Beggars Banquet releases were often distributed by WEA; to appeal to the indie ...

, in the UK. In the US it was released by Beggars Banquet/

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. The album was a slight change in direction for the band. While it still had the band's customary swirling rush of

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s, pounding

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, loud bass and Chris Reed's deep growling

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, the songs were a little slower, with stronger, more conventional

melodies A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

sweetened by occasional female

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

. Reed's

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

were less downbeat, almost optimistic. As critics noted, overall ''Blow'' is a warmer album than the band's previous, somewhat dour offerings; the Lorries left their specious

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

trappings behind for good. ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' noted: "There is a strong pop element in the songs` melodies and structures, a danceable energy in faster numbers and some crisp, ringing guitar work in slower tunes. The material, including Reed's flat, low vocals, is still moody, but there is a separation between instruments-and between instruments and vocals-that steers the proceedings well clear of anything that could be labeled wall-of-gloom." ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' agreed, stating that "''Blow'' takes the band a giant step forward in terms of melodicism and diversity of sound. Staying clear of the old monochromatic wall of noise, the production gives them plenty of punch and much more warmth..." The change may have resulted in better reviews but the sales were not impressive; Beggars Banquet dropped the band the following year.

Track listing

# Happy to See Me – 3:05 # Temptation – 3:07 # Shine a Light – 3:10 # Too Many Colors – 3:38 # Heaven – 4:13 # Gift That Shines – 3:56 # In a World – 3:50 # You Are Everything – 4:01 # West Wakes Up – 4:18 # It Was Wrong – 3:10 # Blow – 4:33 # Heaven (Acoustic Version) – 3:45 All tracks were written by Chris Reed (lyrics) and Reed/Dave Wolfenden/Leon Phillips/"Chill" Chillington (music), except for "Heaven", written by Reed (lyrics), and Reed/Wolfenden/Phillips (music)

Personnel

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry: *Chris Reed -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*David "Wolfie" Wolfenden - guitar *Leon Phillips -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, keyboards *"Chill" Chillington -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

, keyboards with: *Jilly Myhill -

*Steve Hagarth - keyboards *Dick Adland - drums

References

{{Authority control Red Lorry Yellow Lorry albums 1989 albums Beggars Banquet Records albums Situation Two albums