Album Review: Cast – Love is the Call
Love is the Call
Cast are well known for writing some of the most catchy tunes of the Britpop era and on their 7th album ‘Love is the Call’, they jam pack their arsenal with more ammo to re-enforce the band as one of the most important British bands of the last 30 years. ‘Love is the Call’ feels like it could be a lost album, like the transition record between The La’s to Cast.
‘Faraway‘ was the third and final single released from this album and it has to be said, this is the most radio friendly and conventional Cast track on the record. Britpop at it’s finest, the type of tune that gets mates singing along together in the boozer and becomes the montage on the end of a televised sporting event. The tune shows that today’s Cast can still enamour fans who first fell for the likes of ‘Finetime’, ‘Alright’ and ‘Walkaway’ back when they first started out.
Big choruses are what Cast are amazing at, the album is full of them, one of the best being ‘Forever and a Day‘, it’s so powerful and optimistic. It jugs along and by the time John Power sings “And the first time in forever, You got a smile on your face” you can’t help but grin yourself.
What Cast have nailed here is producing a modern album that sounds old, so much so, it is the closest they have come to reigniting that glorious sound of The La’s. Opening track ‘Bluebird‘ is a little ditty that could have easily been lifted from those days, as with ‘Look Around‘, this is the most fun sounding even though the lyrics don’t reflect the cheerful melody.
It sounds like Cast are in their element on this album when they go a little rouge, the fun they must have been having in the studio radiates through. ‘I Have Been Waiting‘, shows why the band are so influential in Liverpool and beyond, although this is new it sounds the starting point for many Liverpool bands, like The Coral, The Zutons and more recently Red Rum Club. Going the other way, title track ‘Love is the Call‘ pays full homage to The Beatles and goes on a ‘Magical Mystical Tour’.
Cast save their biggest anthemic track till the end with ‘Tomorrow Calls My Name‘, it kind of takes you by suprise too, the song starts and sounds like it’s going to be a darker closer. Some slick slide guitar and some very clever lyric arrangements keeps you interested before going slightly Bowie in the chorus. The second half out of nowhere comes this huge moment that makes you say “Wow” the first time you hear it, without spoiling that moment too much, this could even give ‘Walkaway‘ a run for it’s money live.
To say it’s nearly 30 years since Cast‘s debut album ‘All Change‘ was released, the band have not lost that same magic and ‘Love is the Call’ could easily be the prequel to that album so to produce that in 2024 is nothing short of spectacular.
Order the album here: https://cast.tmstor.es/?lf=7473ace15badc4f5c4e390830a69a0d0
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