Hey! Hello! – “Hey! Hello! Too!”

There can be no denying that Ginger is a legend in the UK rock music scene. Whilst we have loved lots of his stuff, we have always most enjoyed it when he has let his power pop side loose. Therefore, two of our favourite releases are those by Silver Ginger Five and the first Hey! Hello! album. The band, and this album release, haven’t been without their ‘problems’, so we were eager to see how it turned out.

Opening number, “All Around The World”, immediately tells us it’s been well worth the hassle and the wait. It’s an instantly appealing, huge glam rock number -tacky and addictive. A style that continues with the opening drum beat and hand clapping of “This Ain’t Love”, a number that smacks you like a sugar hit.

Let’s face it, “Glass of Champagne” is a song which sounds like The Wildhearts covering an Abba Song! It’s great stuff! Speaking of his other band, there are also traces of their punky, grimier sound on “Kids” and “Forever Young”. But even on those tracks, there are still pop choruses and harmonies. A song like “Loud and Fucking Clear”, despite it’s title, is just a huge punk pop song built to be sung out loud.

There’s a slight risk that songs like “Cant Stand You (Hurting Me)” may be a bit too ‘clean sounding’ for old, world weary, Wildhearts’ fans….not us though, we’re a sucker for a good pop tune! Anyhow, if you prefer thrashier guitars, you can always listen to “Let’s Get Emotional”. But we’re back to the Cheap Trick esque power pop noise on songs like “A History Of Lovers” and a great version of “Body Parts”, which we believe is in Japanese.

It’s pretty apt that the album ends with a brilliant track called “Perfect”. This album is indeed ‘perfect’ for us, a great mix of punk and pop. Sure, Ginger may have released more ‘important’ or ground breaking albums. But, he hasn’t released anything which sounds like such fun. This is an album which allows you to just kick back, forget your worries and have a good time… that’ll do for us.