On tonight’s programme, Peel played a run of three tracks from Today’s Active Lifestyles, the second album by Polvo. And just as he had done the previous week with Swirlies, he picked three tracks which were unlikely to make any of his listeners into converts for the band in question. To be fair to him, I don’t think he had a great deal of choice given that none of the tracks on the album really stand out as worthy of love. There’s a couple of tracks over 7 minutes long as well, which would have given Peel time to have a cup of tea and a comfy sit on the toilet, but would have seriously tested the listeners’ patience. Too much of the album sounds like a band in the rehearsal room, with the music constantly shifting in tone and tune, but hardly ever taking time to really engage the listener. If I was to be generous, I’d say that the constant shifts are reflective of the hyperactivity suggested by the album’s title, but it’s not an album that really deserves having excuses being made for it.
Lazy Comet gets on to the metaphorical mixtape because it was the only one of the three tracks which Peel played which had me straining to hear more, I’m thinking particularly of the gorgeous section of music between 0:55 and 3:20. Alongside it, he played an instrumental called My Kimono and Sure Shot, two tracks which if I called them nondescript, would make them both sound better than they are.
Video courtesy of Polvo.
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