Ferment

The next CD for my commute was the Catherine Wheel’s album Ferment. The debut album by the band, released in 1992.
I once met Catherine Wheel, they played Lion Street Cultural Centre where I volunteered during the nineties. They were fairly pleasant men and put me and a friend on the guestlist of a gig they were doing the following night in Shrewsbury, as it was supporting Levitation, I didn’t bother.
The current Mrs D liked them immensely when she was a lot younger, and it is her album that soundtracks the A roads of the Midlands, the abundance of CD singles and 12”s by this band are also down to her. She had a thing for shoe gazing bands, Moose, Lush, My Bloody Valentine etc, I didn’t. That’s why I greeted Ferment with a heavy heart and the knowledge that todays journey was going to be as good as yesterdays.
Or at least that is what I thought, you see that’s the reason why I am listening and relistening to all my CD albums. I prejudge things and do not give them a chance. This album contradicted my preconceived notion and you know what, although it was of it’s time, it wasn’t half bad.
The 1992 me was a big fan of bands that were not by any stretch of the imagination, I liked bands that had witty T-shirts, not serious bands like Catherine Wheel.
Ferment though is rather pleasant, even with the bandwagon jumping shoegaze sound, it has depth and songwriting that appears to have stood the test of time, even if the music style it is part of hasn’t.
There was a familiarity to the songs though, I was obviously aware of them as some of them were moderate indie hits, Black Mettalic certainly rings a bell and it is Rob Dickinson’s (cousin of Bruce) voice that adds to that familiarity, a soulful voice that I may have been quick to judge.
The melodies through out make it an enjoyable listen, where Coheed and Cambria failed yesterday was that the songs were lengthy and lacking melody and structure. Here Catherine Wheels songs are far from short but this is not important as they do have the melodies and structure.
All in all, I kept listening, I listened and liked what I heard and I think the current Mrs D may be surprised. Unsure if I could take another album by them though, I suspect time will tell on that. 5 out of 10.



Black Metallic by Rob Dickinson