Well, I have to thank the Rockin' Rabbi for this absolutely wonderful record. Kik Tracee, file alongside Saigon Kick, I Love You blah blah... truly beautiful rock 'n' roll that lasted one album and one EP, and then as I discovered, this unreleased album. And what a tragedy it is that such a record won't be hitting the shelves. I'm unaware as to when this was recorded, but boy, this mustn't be laid to rest so easily in the bootleg charts or download forums.
Kik Tracee always had a knack of writing incredible hooks, sweeping ballads but also getting down and dirty. However, 'Centre...' is pretty much bereft of the down 'n' dirty, instead the band sway and swoon across the fields with what can only be described as a sombre rock 'n' roll goth. And I mean true goth, that dusty style of music huge in the UK in the '80s when bands such as Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, and many others paraded through the sunny streets in dark garb. 'Til Death Do Us Part' is an anthem for the estranged, a wiry, solemn jangle where Shareaux's vocals remind of those gloomy echoes of the mid-'80s where every day it rained. Kik Tracee are shape-shifters of natural beauty, at once a seething beast able to swagger in the breeze, or on the sun-drenched 'Homesick' they drench us in tales from some porch where horses run free and ladies in ripped denim jeans climb into pick up truck's and let their hair flow in the wind. Maybe it's the shuffle of the guitars which paint all these pictures of '80s love-rock, but these kind of hazy days are crushed with the sleazy, G 'n' R storm of 'Cancer Of Hate', but Steven's vocals take him beyond any kind of straight down the line ballsy rock. Again, the band alter time and time again, chugging riffs, then those sugary struts.
'Centre Of A Tension' consumes you, it licks and laps at you, hairspray in your eyes, lipstick plastered over your face, and then suddenly drops you head first into some kind of mystical, psychedelic yet downbeat street in industrial Britain. The band have made vast advances on the sleaze rock debut that was 'No Rules' although the 'Field Trip' EP promised fizzy journey's into a time forgot, and with 'Centre...' not being released, I can only wonder what on Earth is wrong with people in the music business for not signing up such a talent.
There is a dark, brooding atmosphere throughout much of this record, a cauldron of The Cult, Saigon Kick and Last Crack. 'Delilah' is a prime example of that sleek and supremely intelligent talent paraded by musician's who should be filling stadiums. And if you want music to fuck to, then slap on the groovezilla riff of 'Mouth To Mouth'.
Don't let Kik Tracee slip away...
8.5/10
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