Man-Trap is the comeback album by the Medway beat legends Thee Headcoatees who have put any fights over any men they fancy to one side, to get back together for one more whirl around Ranscombe Studios in Rochester. They are still Ludella Black, Bongo Debbie, Kyra La Rubia and Holly Golightly with help from Richard Moore and James Taylor the album was engineered by Jim Riley.
The album opens with a great garage stomping cover of The KKK Took My Baby Away, The Ramones classic sounds dirtier and is full of girl group backing vocals coated in heavy Garage rock guitars, this is a magnificent cover.
The title tune is in celebration of a woman who is the proverbial Man-Trap, she has them drooling at her feet at every opportunity, while the guitars wail away and she traps another sucker whose self-esteem she will ruin one look at a time.
Signals Of Love is built around tribal drumming and girl group aesthetics to send fans into wild wild ecstasy that they have found the formula and it's intact. The Double Axe is for the victim of that Double Axe, which just reminds me of the only Axe Murderer I knew growing up in Essex and how he greeted my mum after he got out of prison, this song isn't quite as dark as his crimes were, the riff that drives this on, in time for the wild solo, stomping good fun.
Modern Terms Of Abuse is a calmer and less raging version of the song that also features on the new Thee Headcoats album, the sultry vocals and James Taylor's Hammond organ elevates this version.
Becoming Unbecoming Me has some long tonal violins with buzzed guitars for a tale of finding ways to become seedier than you once were, getting up to no good in a dark theatre.
Paint It, Black is treated like it should have been Shocking Blues all along, this stomps along like the backing vocals are by a Cossack chorus, urgency in the vocals make this one of the stand out covers of a song I have way too many covers of.
Walking On My Grave nicks a few lines form Springsteen and all sorts of other places, while they make clear that a new kid on the block is the one Walking On My Grave, while listeners might consider creating a playlist from the songs quoted in this song, but wait for the screams to really seal the deal, while we should all make sure not to OD while listening to this.
Jim Bowie goes full on Seeds tribute and then some for us all to sing along with, lest they threaten you with Jim Bowies knife. Sex And Flies is a sad redolent song for all the pain and sorrow of a life led in pursuit of Sex And Flies, with the violins making this sound a bit Silos.
He's Gonna Kill That Girl is an anthem for the kind of awful misogynistic man who can't help himself on seeing a stunning woman, he just has to knock her off her feet and kill her, while sounding like the Shangri La's rather than The Ramones who originally sang it.
Fire In The Mountains is more interesting than anything you'll get from watching Fire Country, this slow bass led tune with shakers and Holly's smouldering vocals explaining a way to escape the inferno.
I Can't Find Pleasure is a sad tale of a woman who has lost the ability to have fun, I wonder what man ruined her life to take all the fun away, not even the Manish beat can save her, damn that guitar freaks all over the place.
The Money Will Roll Right In is speedy garage punk for someone who still want to Fuck Brooke Shields, while they watch that money cascade into their pockets, like Fang hoped it would when this song was covered by Metallica, Nirvana and Mudhoney among others, so here's hoping this time the members of Fang will get rich.
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