Pete Green - Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly (7" EP)
(Atomic Beat Records ABR001, released April 2007 )
Pete Green is an acoustic singer songwriter who just likes writing acoustic indie pop songs, and for that we should all be thankful. Now happily settled in Sheffield but still supporting Grimsby Town, his home town team, Pete's been doing his acoustic pop goodness for many a time now, having formerly been in bands such as The Regulars when he was in Birmingham. This release is his first EP proper and is a limited edition of a mere 400 copies. Although it's only on 7" vinyl, if you purchase it, you can email the people at Atomic Beat Records and let them know you bought a copy, and they'll send you the MP3 versions - good, eh?
Packaged inside the really nicely designed sleeve is the single itself, a Periodic Table of Sparkly, some info about Atomic Beat and Pete Green, and that's all rather nice. The limited edition number is hand written on the back right hand corner of the sleeve so it's not too in your face but there to let you know, and the vinyl looks decent quality weight and feel, so it's on with the turntable and let's listen to the three tracks.
"Everything I Do Is Gonna Be Sparkly" is the main track, which is the whole of side one, and has some lovely acoustic guitar playing and sets things off in the right mood. The drums that kick in the chorus make it a sort of "quiet bit loud bit" tune which is fine by me. The chorus is just spot on though, and has a real feeling of hope and happiness which is how it should be - despite all the slight feeling of sadness in the verses. Pete's voice also gets more emotional throughout which shows he's feeling the words in the right way. Good start this.
"The Ballad of Phil Jevons" on side B is rather fantastic. It's a story about a footballer who used to play for Everton and Pete's beloved Grimsby Town before leaving them for Yeovil Town (he's now at Bristol City if I remember). It's everything about the average journeyman not so good footballer compressed nicely into two minutes, with good guitars and insightful vocals sung with real football passion - "A lazy sod or nervous wreck? A 35 yard millstone round your neck" referring to Phil's goal at Liverpool once, and it's delivered with a sense of aplomb and wistfulness that should be a terrace anthem, damn it. It's just so catchy...
"Take Your Time" on side B is a rather lovely little song and it basically explains how in life sometimes if the pace of life seems a bit too quick and passes you by, that taking time is a much nicer way of doing things. Set against a backdrop of some old sampled speech from an old film, it's poignant without being overstated and rather nice to end the EP with.
It's all in all a rather nice slice of intelligent, well written indie pop goodness, or "twock" as Pete calls it (twee and rock = twock, apparently). But regardless, it's well worth the mere three pounds of your money, and don't forget even if you don't have a turntable, once you buy the vinyl you can claim the MP3s too, which is a nice touch. Order it now from Atomic Beat Records, cos you'll be glad you did.
Warren's rating: 88%