大象传媒

Now The Beat Poets specialise in proper rock and roll. It's garage rock in the spirit of Primal Scream, The MC5, The Hives, Queens Of The Stone Age, even rock-metal riffs in there. They've been bubbling under for a couple of years now, quietly concocting their riffs before unleashing them on us. 'You Are A Disgrace' is bit of a belter, while 'Hail To The Rock Thief' proves that they've obviously got a time machine hidden away, went back to the 1970s and stole it from someone back then. Another one to add the growing list of cracking little bands from here that should go far.

The Duke Spirit. Not to be confused with our own Duke Special, who appears to be here tonight as well. Add in Liela's Queen references and we're coming over all royal in the old Limelight. Unfortunately there's no Prince or any other upper class related music being played. Anyway, on with the music. Opening with the new album's first proper track, 'Send A Little Love Token' is a smouldering wall of guitar sound, nicely frantic in its manic edge. 'Dog Roses' is prefaced by a touching story that being a rock and roll front-person is not all roses, as poor Liela has had to spend her day personalising posters for us all - you see it's a hard life, not all partying, performing and chatting to radio personalities. As for the song itself, it's a little slower, with a chiming almost 50s touch, in the vein of Richard Hawley or some of Damon Albarn's work, this lightness being continued with 'Sovereign'.

'Lion Rip', from their previous album, signals a step up in pace, all gloriously threatening guitars lying in wait under the siren voice. It's heavy and fuzzy, but precise with it, the layers working to create a hellishly beautiful whole. In which the microphone stand becomes a casualty as Liela tries her best Freddie Mercury impression. 'The Step And The Walk' recalls the Detroit garage sound, with a rattlesnake hiding in the rhythm, like The Detroit Cobras jamming with the Stooges, possessing a timelessness about it, while 'This Ship Was Built To Last' has producer Chris Goss's fingerprints all over it, with tinges of the mescaline soaked heavy rock purveyed by QOTSA. The incendiary climax of the show begins with, probably their biggest hit, 'Love Is An Unfamiliar Name', a firestorm of a song, with Liela being both the eye and the source of the storm, more than ably backed by pounding hypnotic drums, the song threatens to steal your soul. Closing track, 'Cuts Across The Land', confirms the theft, perpetrated after we've been lured by the siren, and distracted by the fire in her eyes, with it's refrain that they'll "never, never let you go" after "suck(ing) you in", but it's worth it all. Our queen is asserting her authority over us, bow before the Dukes.

William Johnston