Review Summary: A lost, opulent indie pop classic.
A lot of time and money was spent on Gene's sophomore effort 'Drawn to the Deep End'. The band spent months working on the album, experimenting with styles and textures and re-working many of their songs in various ways. They were determined to make an artistic masterpiece that would finally explode the myth of the band being nothing more than a Morrissey copycat. To that end the sessions were exceedingly demanding and difficult with vocalist Martin Rossiter succumbing to deep depression along the way.
With their frontman on the decline and an impatient record company breathing down their necks, Gene almost met a sticky multi-tracked end. But they persevered and ultimately produced one of the greatest albums of the Britpop era.
The resulting LP has a huge amount of variety in it's soundscape, taking in power pop, punk, blues, folk, jangle, out right balladry and even funeral marches. But rather than being a spotty catch-all affair, the songs are all deftly woven together as a whole with many binding ties. Examples of this would be the quiet, atmospheric piano breaks found in 'We Could Be Kings', 'Voice Of The Father' and 'I Love You, What Are You?'. Or perhaps the way 'We Could Be Kings' segues into 'Why I Was Born' via a dovetailing piano line. Or even the way that opening track 'New Amusements' and closing track 'Sub Rosa' share the same keyboard melody.
It's the little thoughts and details like these that elevate the whole over the parts and make 'Drawn to the Deep End' stand out as something truly special. But that's not to say that the individual pieces lack anything. Far from it. Most of the tracks on offer here are of the spectacular variety.
The four back-to-back singles that dominate the A-side are, for example, utterly fantastic. 'Fighting Fit' is a great slice of catchy power pop, all stomping distortion and fist-in-the-air anthemics, whilst 'Speak To Me Someone' and 'Where Are They Now?' concentrate on the kind of beautiful balladry that has always defined Gene as a band. The winding 'We Could Be Kings' demonstrates the more experimental leanings of the album by squeezing several distinct movements into the framework of one song. But it works superbly, standing out as an Elvis Presley fueled highlight.
The back end of the album has no real drop off in quality either. The bluesy trills and cathartic lyricism of 'Save Me, I'm Yours' make for a late album highlight, as does the snarling punk thunderclap of 'Voice Of The Father'.
There's also a lack of anything that truly dips into danger territory, with the dour funeral march of 'The Accidental' perhaps constituting the worst off the record. The folksy 'Long Sleeves For The Summer' and cartwheeling ballad 'I Love You, What Are You?' are also comparatively slight additions that float by without much threat. But these tracks do add more variety to the album, and when you look at the LP as a whole, they more than serve their purpose. And that's very much the point here; 'Drawn To The Deep End' is such a cohesive album that it feels wrong to remove any of the pieces. Much like the proverbial house of cards, a removal of one part feels like it could result in the destruction of the entire thing. And that's one of the defining calling cards of a classic album.
'Drawn To The Deep End' is mostly forgotten and overlooked. A lost classic of epic proportions. Seldom has a pop record ever managed to capture such a grandiose sound. It's the feeling of sinking in to an ancient leather armchair. It's gold trimmed smoking jackets, luxurious velvet drapes and crystal chandeliers hanging in magnificent mansions. It's opulence and grandeur. In short... It's brilliant.
