Some of you probably know FRANKIE DELMANE from The CRAZY SQUEEZE but he has also been active in various rock’n’roll bands (including TEENAGE FRAMES) and as a solo artist. “Penetration Street” contains 18 songs from his 365 songs in 365 days project and offers us a wide variety of his musician and songwriter talents in songs that rarely exceed 3 minutes. The sound is real and raw, opening on a JOHNNY THUNDERS note with “Little Johnny” before Frankie shows us he can alwo write a good post punk tune with “Broken Eyes.” Proto-punk influences mix with hard rock in “When The Silence Breaks The Sound” or in “Thrown Away In Time.” You’ll also hear some good powerpop in “Feel That Far” and “Lost The Game (Start Again)’, 60s influenced psyche (“Under The Sun with You”, “Here with You Tonight”, “Talked About Yesterday”), old-school garage (“Problem”, “She’s In Love Every Single Night”) and some distorted “77 punk (“This Sick Beat”, “It’s Gotta Be Me”.) The song “Street Penetration” sounds a bit as if The BOYS were jamming with early AC/DC and “Uptight Daylight” could be an obscure gem from a 70s glam rock compilation. You’ll hear some VELVET UNDERGROUND and ROLLING STONES influences quite a few times on this album but they are always used sparingly with style. For once, 18 songs don’t sound too long to me on a record, and some of them are actually a bit frustrating because you wish they were longer, but this is part of the urgency! I like the imperfection of this album, and was hoping FRANKIE would release some of his songs from his “365 project.” Start 2020 with something real! /Laurent C.
Veglam 