There’s a school of thought that suggests The Bluetones never quite managed to capture the energy of their early gigs when it came time to making records proper. Certainly, the formative stabs at Carnt Be Trusted and Are You Blue Or Are You Blind? on this collection of demos are more sparky than the arguably overproduced takes on 1996’s Expecting To Fly debut, and they go a long way to explaining the initial A&R frenzy surrounding the group a couple of years earlier.
Likewise, the original Fierce Panda version of Bluetonic presents the group at their ramshackle best, and led to favourable comparisons with The Las or the less trippy elements of The Charlatans. Guitarist Adam Devlin was clearly a devotee of Johnny Marr, and his countermelodies to Mark Morriss’ vocal lines suggested great things which, ultimately, never quite materialised for them.
West 12 catches them in concert at Shepherds Bush Empire in 2005, still plugging away at their smart-mouthed pop with sneaky guitar hooks, most pleasingly on Keep The Home Fires Burning and Never Going Nowhere. It still fails to answer the question marks over exactly where they go next, though.
