OTR: Catherine Wheel - Chrome

While Ferment had been missing in action during my tenure at WAIH, Catherine Wheel's second album, Chrome was on the rack in the station archives. Sadly, at the time I never got a chance to listen to it all of way through, despite "Crank" being one of my favourite tunes by the group.

While still shoegazy, Chrome turns down the reverb a notch while simultaneously turning up the fuzz. This isn't a bad thing, as they preserved the dreamy wall of sound which permeated Ferment without getting overbearing with the distortion like they would on their next album, Happy Days.

Back to "Crank," however; while not the labeled as the undisputed epic that "Black Metallic" is, the song does come in a close second. This is even more impressive considering it does in three minutes and forty five seconds what it's sibling stretched over seven minutes (though it does leave this listener wanting more). Also, as far as I'm concerned, "Crank" is the track which perfectly represents the underwater dream of the album's Storm Thorgerson designed artwork. Why the group deigned to make "Chrome" the title cut of the album rather than "Crank" (which was to be the title originally) is a mystery to me.

The music video for "Crank" should be filed under "uses for an elevator more creative than Aerosmith could ever hope to envision."

"Pain" could easily be the sequel to "Black Metallic," though you know what they usually say about sequels...

Not to say that "Pain" is a bad song - I quite enjoy it - but the band does seem to be looking backwards for a moment on an album which was mostly looking forward. Ferment was produced by Tim Friese-Greene, who was most noted for his work with Talk Talk. By contrast, Gil Norton took over production duties on Chrome and while his previous credits include Echo & the Bunnymen, also on his resume is The Pixies, who always seemed to me to be somewhat post-new wave. The Pixies seem to inhabit some sort of weird flux where they are both post-punk and straight up rock - a snottier U2, if you will. Anyway...

"The Nude" is an interesting song. In the version played on Chrome it sounds like a flippant kiss off with its upbeat tempo and fuzzy guitars. There's Rob Dickinson singing against a straightforward 4/4 beat about broken-heartedness, but not sounding too devastated. On the bonus disc which came with Dickinson's solo album Fresh Wine For The Horses, he performs a quiet, largo rendition of "The Nude" on acoustic guitar which sounds truly heartbroken. I'm generally for reverence over reinterpretation, but this gets a pass because a.) the songwriter always gets to do what he or she wants with their work and b.) both moods work really well.

"Ursa Major Space Station" and "Fripp" follow "The Nude" - the former is a muscular song where the lyrics have nothing to do with the title (which is the name of an effects pedal). Interestingly, in support of Chrome, Catherine Wheel toured with Slowdive whose most recent album at the time was Souvlaki, which includes the song "Souvlaki Space Station." The latter song of the two is named for King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp, yet is probably Chrome's softest moment.

Lest one were to think that Chrome was going out on a soft dénouement, "Half Life" dispels that assumption. Though it begins rather quietly, the 3/4 swagger of the song quickly changes dynamics towards forte when the chorus kicks in.

"Show Me Mary" closes the set. It's a strangely upbeat song in contrast to the rest of Chrome. In fact, it's almost happy and the closest Catherine Wheel comes to being - dare I say - jangly. My best comparison: it's what would have happened had Dickenson and company written Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play." How appropriate that Storm Thorgerson was involved with the project then.