King

This wander through my CD’s should be a marathon not a sprint and after todays CD, King by Belly, I have a single marathon boxset to listen to before I close the door on the B’s.
But what of King, the second album by Belly?
Well Belly first, Belly was the band formed by former Throwing Muses member, Tanya Donnelly. Originally it was to be a collaboration between Donnelly and Pixies bassist, Kim Deal. With each one playing on the others record. This was the case with Deal’s Breeders, featuring Donnelly on the debut Pod, but it was not reciprocated for Belly’s debut.
I saw Belly at the Xfm all dayer Great Xpectations, and by saw I mean listened to them whilst falling asleep face down in a park in London. This is totally different to the time I saw Be Your Own Pet when I was stood at the barrier at Reading Festival and dozed off, some say that was a mild form of narcolepsy, I say dull band. Belly aren’t a dull band though, it had just been a long day.
My munchkin like sidekick is a big fan of Belly, was a big fan of Belly, and it is her copy of King that was being played in the car today.
Released at a time when grunge was at its tail end and Brit pop was just starting to show, its an album that is a little out of step with its surroundings as it sounds like neither. It does sound like affirmation that Donnelly can write a song and does not need to be in her sisters shadow, which unfortunately was the case during her tenure in Throwing Muses. Throwing Muses album The Real Ramona hints at her songwriting in Not Too Soon and Honeychain, both brilliant brilliant bits of pop out of step with Herschs wrought, frantic, nervous style.
King carries on this style and almost exclusively the songs are upbeat, and if not lyrically optimistic, certainly musically and in the singles, Superconnected and Seal My Fate, she carries on from debut album Star’s uplifting Feed The Tree.
All in all an enjoyable album and one that I would return to. 7 out of 10.



Seal My Fate by Belly