Brakes
‘Rock Is Dodelijk’
(Fat Cat)

Recorded in Brighton and Cologne, ‘Rock Is Dodelijk’ (dodelijk is Dutch for ‘lethal’) acts as a sort of live greatest hits compilation. The problem, however, lies in the fact that Brakes clearly don’t have enough songs to constitute a ‘Best of’ and therefore end up bizarrely putting two songs on twice and most depressingly that, devoid of their frenetic stage show, an overview of their output to date only highlights that they’ve almost without exception gotten worse. It’s not all bad- ‘NY Pie’ jangles along like a non-irritating View and ‘All Night Disco Party’ is still brilliantly tongue-in-cheek – but the Brakes live experience is one that should be kept that way. Rock is lethal? Rock is mildly stirring at best.

Lisa Wright