Budokan

Finding an album by a band named after a classic Cheap Trick record that cited the likes of Redd Kross, Ramones, Rolling Stones and The Buzzcocks as major influences in the pile of promos at URHQ was like finding a golden ticket hidden in a Wonka Bar.

Gold, funnily enough, was the only thing on my mind when I turned an ear to the stereo and an eye to the press sheet: Not only was this album titled 'Spin A Little Gold' but, until an import CD release from Japanese label SP Records this summer, the record was only available on a classy 180 gram gold vinyl edition and digital download (colour unconfirmed).



I knew nothing about Budokan: the biog quickly informed me that the band was from Canada and that two of its members were previously bandmates in a collective known as BUM. There were other words too but I quickly forgot all about them when a glorious sound rolled out of my speakers like a siren song, the only bad conclusion that this would lead to, however, being that no other album would touch my sci-fi hi-fi for many hours.



'The Queen's English' was the first of thirteen retro-fuelled love potions to seduce me into the heaving bosom of this album; a chimera of '60s garage rock and Silver Sun-esque harmonies kissed my ears and I had a new favourite record. 'You Don't Stop Lovin' The Band' followed and I immediately forgot all about the opening cut - this song was the business. Really. It sounded like something I'd heard a million times before...then I realised it was the amalgamation of the best bits of a million power pop songs broken up into loveheart-shaped pieces and scattered into my life by cherubs; yes, that good.



Sounding gorgeously retrosexual with just enough lo-fi suss to keep it sounding both vintage and contemporary - much like what the aforementioned Redd Kross did earlier this year with 'Researching The Blues' - 'Spin A Little Gold' continued with 'The Right On Girl', another gorgeous tune with an almost Tim Wheeler style looseness to the vocals, before 'Gone Back Home' and the great 'Bastards Of Feel' had me doubting if an album as good as this really could just appear out of nowhere and impress me so: it had to be a trap.



If it was then, with 'Shady Glade', it appeared that my would-be captors were Jeff and Steve McDonald, and they were gonna torture me with somebody else's songs that sounded almost as good as their own back catalogue.



'Don't You Think It's Sad' broke my heart with its trashy nod to classic British rock 'n' roll, while 'Saint Joan' rubbed my nose in the bloody puddle that my heartbreak had pooled into, the "we better haul ass to the chorus" line making all the mess worthwhile. 'Hey Wheels' (a tribute to Degrassi Junior High actor Neil Hope who played Derek "Wheels" Wheeler in the hit show before dying aged just 35), with its early Cheap Trick-isms, and 'For Badge Holders Only', with its Faces meets Kiss, Wood meets Frehley, guitar work and timeless "whoo-hoo" refrain, simply confirmed that this record and these hooks weren't gonna leave my head for some time.



'From The Dealer' was equal parts The Posies, '80s glunk guitar break and timeless power pop hook, while 'Kelly Green (And Here She Is)' again threw that Silver Sun comparison into my now sugar-coated brain, its waves turned more receptive than repetitive. The album closed in epic fashion (well, epic in garage rock terms) with the four and a half minute anthem 'All We Know Is Rock 'n' Roll', a sentiment that would see Budokan taken into the hearts of many an Uber Rocker even if their music sucked.....but, of course, it doesn't: in fact, I'd go so far as to say it rules.



'Spin A Little Gold' arriving at URHQ for review may well prove to be the finest Canadian/United Kingdom collaboration since Jon Mikl Thor bent his mic stand around the throat of that milkman on Saturday morning kids television show No 73 in the '80s.

Essential if you love vintage Cheap Trick, miss Silver Sun, and welcomed Redd Kross back like a long lost friend. - http://uberrock.co.uk