Thorcraft Cobra: Count It In

It takes two, baby.

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Duos? Gotta love ‘em now. No more simpering Peter & Gordon or Paul & Barry Ryan. Instead, it’s in your face with The White Stripes and The Black Keys. Cut the crap. Forget George & Ringo, it’s all about John & Paul.

Or in this case, Billy & Tammy. “Canada cold meets California cool,” as the press release glibly puts it. Actually, it’s a lot better than that; Beatles For Sale without the fatigue. He strums a mean guitar and sings; she drums and sings too.

The opening Count Me Out is a hard, measured put-down of the right-wing morons who are freezing American politics. No reply. A couple of tracks later, Party Clock tells you that you showed up late. Too bad. But it’s so good, they play it again at the end with a different edit. And this time you’re singing along – ‘Too bad the party’s over/A shame ’cos you missed quite a time’.

By now their style is under your skin and you’ll be humming bits at inappropriate moments for weeks to come. Which can’t be bad.

Hugh Fielder

Hugh Fielder has been writing about music for 47 years. Actually 58 if you include the essay he wrote about the Rolling Stones in exchange for taking time off school to see them at the Ipswich Gaumont in 1964. He was news editor of Sounds magazine from 1975 to 1992 and editor of Tower Records Top magazine from 1992 to 2001. Since then he has been freelance. He has interviewed the great, the good and the not so good and written books about some of them. His favourite possession is a piece of columnar basalt he brought back from Iceland.