Magic Eight Ball

“Clearly talented” - Rogers Stevens (Blind Melon)

"Magic Eight Ball impress with their ep, 'A Peacock's Tale'. Straight away the musicianship, harmonies and production all ring true of a band with talent. The Ep is split into four 'act's, we aren't at a theatre production here but it does have all the drama required to make an impact on the listener. Singer and guitarist Baz Francis really has some songwriting knack in these songs. They fuse the pomp of Queen, the quirky edge of Weezer with an alt sound of bands like The Posies.

The vocal harmonies on opening track 'Baby, Is It So?' are so ridiculously Queen it's great. There's bursts of Rivers Cuomo style guitar trickery all held together a Big Star style backing section. The drums and bass sound as if they'd played together right through the 70's.

'Never Need New Genes' again recalls the longing balladry of Weezer and somewhat that of Ash around 'Free All Angels' yet without being too mushy and uninspired, this sound has all the chord changes to pull the heartstrings. Francis tackles vocal duties on all songs and I am expecting it is him supplying the angelic backing which if they can pull it off live (using fellow band members or backing singers) will be quite amazing. There's something classic about Magic Eight Ball. It brings together all the imagery of swooning 60's pop, soaked in pitch perfect vocals, passionate performance and hooks a plenty.

'Down By The River' is my favourite Neil Young song ever, fact. This is not a Neil Young cover just a name sake but again it's got all the harmonies of Big Stars 'Number One Record'. There's a very Beatles feel to it in places, with Francis mimicking McCartney when he gets a bit soulful.

'L.N.E' finishes things off nicely with some gentle piano work which is almost Faith No More goes Lionel Richie style cool. A Short instrumental, with a longing chord at the end which leads me to think this band are something quite special. If you are a fan of classic song writing, hooks and amazing melodies then Magic Eight Ball are the band for you. It all seems to effortless, but that's the beauty of being talented." - Pete Stanley (www.theplasticashtray.co.uk)

http://www.subba-cultcha.com/singles.php?id=9

"Great melding of the La’s, Small Faces and the playfulness of the Magic Numbers…" - Jeremy Chick (Editor-In-Chief - www.subba-cultcha.com)

"It's a strange and unnerving prospect when an accompanying press release - written in this instance by the band themselves - professes musical influences as thus - the Manics, Queen and Cheap Tricks. I'm sure you'll agree such a collection of talent laid down as reference markers has never appeared in print before in the same sentence at least. But then press releases are strange things - more often than not a blatant act of self promotion (of course) - you can always gage the current bands in vogue as their always casually referred to even if it's a given thing on hearing the music inside that the band have obviously never see a record by them let alone actually heard them. But the Manics, Queen and Cheap Tricks - I ask you.

I've always had issues about the Manics- a love / hate relationship you might say where I love to hate them. I can see the attraction but then feel their most cutting edge work laid abandoned and forgotten the minute Richey walked out to oblivion. Queen - share with people like Presley something absolute and incomparable - they exist in their own self contained universe while Cheap Tricks appear to have long ago mastered the art of crafting music relevant to past, present and future sub generic species. All three share a common thread - their ability to mainline directly into the masses conscience via their safe easy listening persona.

And so to Magic Eight Ball and young trio based in Windsor. 'A peacock's tale' their debut release features four exquisitely crafted shots of sublime 70's styled MOR / FM. Its inspiring in the main for the way it slaps in the face of any notion of fashionable bandwagon jumping conventions whilst given the band members ages (all in their early 20's) its hard yet its to be admired at how they have acquired the high level of adept intricacy to be able to pull of such a feat without being sealed in some sort of bubble and fed on old tapes of transatlantic radio shows from the mid 70's while dieting on record collections provided for by parents and older relatives alike. In terms of content, style and delivery I'd have to say this was the most exquisite release we'd had the pleasure of hearing since gems of gold dust from the Panda Gang (who seem to have gone quiet of late) lit up our hi-fi.

The set opens with 'Baby, is it so?' a smoking gun of becoming talent and potential, in its five minute duration it manages to shoe horn honey combed harmonies imported direct from the West Coast that have been spliced through with chilled lines of laid back drifting soul the type of which that gives you a warming fuzzy tingling sensation at your core, reclining easy on the ear svelte pop featuring a rather smart Brian May styled solo and in vocalist Baz Francis a front man equally happy at turning his hand to warming soul deliveries (the like of which you'd have to go way back into the mists of the early 70's for comparison) as he is taking the melodies by the scruff and rocking out.

'Never need new genes' - perhaps if truth be told - the best thing here - possesses a slow to burn subtle power pop core blended with a delicious 50's styled bubblegum pop wrap that to these ears sounds like a particularly saccharine sweet Paul McCartney taking time out from Wings and the post Beatles fall out and going on a vacation to the Canvey Islands to act as a faceless svengali and to oversee a pub rock super group of sorts cultivating soothing gems of pristine pop in a style befitting the hey day of the Bay City Rollers as though shot through with the mercurial mid 70's mindset of 'Darlin' era Beach Boys all the time swept along in currents of idly charmed bliss laden laid back motifs that even the Raspberries would blush in admiration at.

The lazy eyed honey tipped 'Down by the River' takes a ramble through the backwaters of the Thrills domain - perfect for reclining in the shade of a tree hiding from a bearing down summer sun and idly spending the afternoon watching the clouds float by.

The milky romantic 'L.N.E. (for the Love of Three Girls)' which I assume is dedicated to said members other halves wraps up the set. A piano led instrumental imagines a young Alan Price poking around in the fractured mindset of a chemically befuddled Brian Wilson reconstructing partially completed lovelorn suites aided by Randy Newman on hand to apply his trademark smoothness to the raw materials within. Gorgeous really." - Mark (www.losingtoday.com)