Pete Writes: Colossal insight (with thanks to Roots Manuva) ►

◄ My review: Inovix iMP-117D 512Mb MP3 player / flash drive

Amazon.co.uk listing for this CD
www.thehotpuppies.com
www.myspace.com/thehotpuppies

Track listing:

1. Terry
2. Love in Practice, Not Theory

Scroll down for lyrics!

I'm going on the assumption that this is a double A-side, which it deserves whether any basis in fact can be found. Not to suggest that Terry is in any way deficient, just that Love in Practice, Not Theory is very spanky indeed.

What we're greeted with first are chords straight out of a Western and an ominous beat that stomps us into the first verse. Terry is apparently a bit of a bruiser, though he could come from any era from a House of Eliott setting onwards... the Puppies do frequently bring to mind gangsters, molls and spiv wheeler-dealing with their lyrics. This is also their first released song to break the four minute mark, so we get a nicely involved vocal and guitar bridge in the second half.

Biting tales of obsession and desperation have been an evergreen theme for the last single or three, so it should come as little surprise that our second track is also about a less-than-ideal relationship. One that almost makes me wish I'd done some moping over unobtainable / emotionally distant people since college, just for frame of reference, but I'll settle for vicarious appreciation of the "if you tell me that you love me one more time, I shall be sick on your guitar" line and other images that follow.

That's a secret of lasting appeal in lyrics, I think: paint a few distinctive images and let the listener imagine into the gaps. Of course, it never hurts to back this up with energetic vocals and tight instrumental performances. All of which this band have lots of.

As is traditional, this single has been released on yet another small record label, this time the newly-created Label Fandango offshoot of Club Fandango... this doesn't mean much except the CD coming in a generic vinyl-style sleeve which is intended to let the music speak for itself. Nice gimmick, though I'd prefer to pay fractionally more for a case.

Another recent development is that you can now check out their MySpace page for three more new tracks ( Love or Trial? • Under the Crooked Moon • I Left My Heart ) as 96kbps MP3s. The sound suffers a little from the low bitrate, but as a taster the songs are very welcome. Even more fun is a video for Terry, currently linked from there. It's about a 30Mb download for your choice of Windows Media or Quicktime, and contains a mix of appropriately bizarre story and live footage of the band.

There's also a ~20Mb live video of Shoot 'Em in the Head up at thehotpuppies.com and an unreleased recording of the song The Party, if you're still in a Puppies mood.

And who wouldn't be?

---

TERRY

Terry says... Terry [Terry Terry] says he knows a place
Where we can go and dance alone
But Terry won't, Terry [Terry Terry] won't tell me
If that's blood or campari on his hands
Oh but I'm in love with you, yes I am
And if it's all the same to you
I'd really like a dance
Yes, I'd really like to dance with

CHORUS:
Terry
No good for me (no good for me)
No good for me
Terry
No good for me (no good for me)
No good for me

Terry looks... Terry [Terry Terry] looks so handsome
Sitting in my father's den, airing his despair
But Terry leaves, Terry [Terry Terry] leaves cigarette ash everywhere
When dancing up the stairs in his underwear
But I'm in love with you, yes I am, yes I am
You may think that I cannot but I think I can, but I think I can
But I'd really love a dance with

CHORUS

BRIDGE

CHORUS

---

LOVE IN PRACTICE, NOT THEORY

So if you tell me, tell me, tell me that you love me
One more time... I shall be sick on your guitar
I'm not some delicate piece of art
To be admired from afar

So won't you pull me, pull me, pull me through this speaker
And show me a time... show me the lovers they say own the night
Show me the diamonds you left in the mine
Show me that time is still on my side

CHORUS:
'Cause baby, it's love
In practice, not theory
You may behold me
But why can't you hold me?
'Cause baby, it's love
In practice, not theory
Trapped in a song
But not for too long

And as for that solitary tear that you save
For the end of the week
The one that will make 'em go weak at the knee
When you dedicate it to me
Well it's the one thing that I've never seen
And you say baby, baby, baby

It's that time of the year
The time when your violin and a tear
Will make the rooftop angels appear
They'll give you their sandals
And a harp if you cry in their beer

CHORUS

---

All lyrics are, naturally, copyright the band.

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