I'm going to mention Mark Chapman later, so let me start by saying that up in rockstar heaven (a magical place, where D. Boon and Jimi Hendrix and Phil Lynnot lead a gang that anxiously awaits, battleaxes in hand, the demise of Paul Hewson), John Lennon is probably smiling down on this record. Wild fantasies and complicated rock-metaphysics aside, "Greetings from Finsbury Park, N.4" is an album he might have gotten around to making one day.
But as Lili Von Shtupp says in "Blazing Saddles", let's get down to brass tacks: this album starts with a panic attack called "a European Scream", yeah, and the swooping melody, synthscapes and swaggering guitar pretty much set the tone for the whole rest of the record. If you're not sold by the time "The Man The Myth The Music" gets around to singing, in the nicest possible way, that he hopes Mark Chapman makes parole for the sake of sorting out Bono, then you won't be.
And shame on you. Because down at the other end of the album you'll miss out on "Marianne Faithfull", in which the singer rhymes Marianne Faithfull with, um, faithful, and Tom Waits with, well, waits. It's no mean feat, and frankly, the audaciousness of even trying is worth rewarding with your hard earned cash, because it's the kind of thing that rock 'n' roll was invented to do. The fact that it's pulled off so spectacularly, in such a beautiful and smart and funny song, on a whole album packed with such beautiful, smart music and lyrics, makes me think that Dirty Fingernails is a band everybody and their uncool mother should be paying attention to.
And that means you.
Have a listen on their MySpace page: www.myspace.com/yourfavouriteband