Reaction Recordings Ltd.



SPECIAL NEEDS REVIEWS Special Needs Reviews Saturday, August 26, 2006 Funfairs and Heartbreak Press Reviews NME - w/e 5th August 2006 Pedigree Pop Epitaph: You'll Be Missed "Now the ex-Libertines seem determined to go out with a whimper, and bands like Selfish Cunt have proved that, nice as the DIY ideal is, sadly anyone can't do it, what's to remember the Rhythm Factory scene by? Clasp Special Needs' posthumous debut to your hearts, people. Foolishly dropped by Mercury in 2005, the band split in 2006, but leave an epitaph of pure-bred pop class. From the "rum-diddy-rum-diddy aye" of 'Blue Skies' to the "shang-a-lang-a-lang-adoo-wop" of 'Winter Gardens', discovering what's been lost here is like being handed a slice of cake, only to be punched in the face before you get it to your lips." 8 out of 10 By Emily Mackay Subba - Cultcha webzine 1st August 2006 Celebrate the light of day, and mourn the passing... A posthumous release for the seminal album The Libertines should have made. "It's a bit hard to admit your best days are well and truly on someone's camera phone sometime near last Christmas." It was with that statement, late in 2005, that The Needs (aka Special Needs) announced that they had decided to call it a day. Their star shone brightly, but briefly and there seems little doubt that they would have been mainstaging the festivals this year were it not for a whole bevvie of personal misfortunes, in-fighting, and major label economy drives. As with so many bands, SNs doomladen personal story is in complete contrast to the sheer and unadulterated joy which is their music: a hedonists dream of summery guitars, perfect harmonies and all the elements that make those soundtrack to your life albums - part Libertines, a touch Maximo Park and a great deal Trash Can Sinatras. Affectionate, acerbic lyrics acknowledge modern life. Their anthem, Blue Skies is a life-affirming juxtaposition of feel-good hooks and doom-laden lyrics. They were born cynical and they want you to be pleased for them. Take that cigarette out your mouth / Do something useful, get out the house / Ill be up doing pirouettes / With the girl from the launderette kinda sums up the mood better than I ever could. Theres narey a duffer on here. And perhaps its the knowledge that well never hear these songs played live, and that this is the entire testimony to what could have been, that every note is beyond reproach. You feel protective of them - youll want to nurture and love this album for the pop masterpiece it is - share it and speak of it in hushed tones - listen to it in darkened rooms and cry. In Winter Gardens, they postulate: Were not broken yet. Were not letting go. Were just going away for a while. Sweet Irony. Would that it were true. By Chris Merriman What's On in London - 3rd - 10th August Album of the Week When Special Needs called it a day last year it was like the death knell for the post-Libertines scene but Funfairs and Heartbreak is much better, much more musical even, than you'd expect. The twin-male vocal is, admittedly, a little Carl and Pete at times. The faux-music hall jauntiness of 'Martin's In A Fix' already seems a little dated but the sense of yearning and the forlorn power chords of 'Sylvia' or the delicate guitar arpeggios of 'A Town Called Angelica' reach much further back to Johnny Marr and the best of The Smiths. Whether they knew they were going to break up when they recorded Funfairs And Heartbreak is unclear but there is a real sense that they're putting everything into every song. There's none of the "we're so brilliant so we don't need to try" attitude that marred The Libertines' albums. As epitaphs go, Funfairs And Heartbreak is very special indeed. 4 out of 4 by Trevor Baker The Independent On Sunday - 6th August 2006 It was a chaotic ride, and it was inevitable that it should go off the rails. That the brilliantly named Special Needs should release their debut album after they've already split up feels like the punchline to a cruel joke. Led by the charismatic Zachery Stephenson, a sterotypical wayward Irish poet, Special Needs were one of the few saving graces of the whole post-(or let's be honest, sub-) Libertines scene. Mixing shambolic indie-rock with dashes of doo-wop harmonies and girl-group backchat, they sound alternately like wide-eyed and legless dreamers, and impassioned, vainglorious self-believers. 3.5 out of 5 by Simon Price The Sun - 11th August 2006 Like many post-Libertines groups Special Needs were chaotic, messy and ultimately short-lived. Pushed over the edge by major-label shenanigans they internally combusted before this debut was even released. They're full of punk self-belief, angular guitars and most remarkably, a perfect pop sensibility. Throw in the occasional 50's doo-wop chorus and an obsession with amusement parks and you find yourself immersed in a world all of their own making. Songs like Last Boy On The Swings are full of nostalgia for a youth spent hanging around Tesco stores and falling in love with girls in the launderette. But the track that sums up this posthumous collection best is Bkue Skies, mixing a military rhythm with a yearning pop chorus. Any band would be proud of this as a legacy. 3.5 out of 5 by JS Subba-Cultcha Webzine - 26th August Q&A with Zac Stephenson NAME: Zachery Stephenson BAND: Special Needs INSTRUMENT: Lead vocals. How did the recording sessions for the new album go? Painstakingly. Is that even a word? Well in the absence of Susie Dent I'm gonna wing it. We wanted to make it absolutely perfect. Nothing was overlooked. Mediocrity was not an option. Ian Grimble was a pretty hard taskmaster but the end product was worth it. What goals did you set yourself before you started recording? To make it a huge, powerful, bombastic album. To make it absurdly beautiful but with elements of humour, intelligence, pretensions. Actually pretentiousness gets a raw deal. It means having a sense of self-importance, which I think as a musician or artist is crucial. What do you feel are your own limitations when it comes to creating/writing music? Personally, my inability to playing any instrument that well, although I'm learning the guitar and getting better every day. I've even at the stage now where I can perform a half hour set on my own. Hooray. Tell us 3 of your own/bands favourite songs and the inspiration behind them? Martin's in a Fix, The Girl from the Launderette and A Time to Remember. The latter has obviously retrospectively taken on added poignance since we broke up a few months after the completion of the album. The lines "We were young, we were singing, our lives were beginning, we covered up the cracks for a while." The cracks being our lack of content for the lives we were leading in general, just to pre-emptively prevent anyone adding two and two together and getting five like they often do. What do you enjoy most about recording, and in contrast what do you enjoy most about playing live? After the first week it seemed tedious but it was still better than working for Haymarket Publishing Group. Playing live was the big thing for me. That's what I miss the most and that's the main reason why I've carried on making music since the demise of Special Needs. I am a performer, in life as well as in art and I suppose that played a part in my downfall but I'm learning to harness it and direct it positively now rather than being carried in a direction I didn't necessarily want to go by fair-weather friends. How would you describe your own/bands sound? Jonathan Richman writing songs for Suede. Who is currently moving you musically at the moment? Maurice Chevalier, Pink Floyd's Relics, the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, my sisters Aisling and Amy. What album changed your life and why? Parklife. Because it's good. A moment in your life and a song that seem so perfectly intertwined in your memory? Moving Out by Billy Joel. We used to play it on the car stereo on family holidays driving around County Kerry. Your proudest achievement so far? Picking up a girl who had fainted after our gig at The Crown and carrying her somewhere to recover. I could say something shit like Glastonbury or Runner Up for Single of the week in the NME but that would be bollocks. If you could erase one single/album from history (your own or someone else's) which would it be and why? Anything by Orson. How do you see yourself altering the band and your sound in the future? is there anything you wish to attempt in the future that's inspiring you right now? My new stuff is slightly different to Special Needs. There are underlying themes of romance, love and loss and observation which are still there because we were all on the same ship. A rumour you'd like to start about yourself, or one you'd like stopped? That I caused the break up of the band. The truth is we'd just had enough. What drives you? A Suzuki Swift. What are your fears? Decay, the possibility of future regret. The revolution comes, who would you like to be first against the wall (and if you're feeling particularly bitchy, a second, third, fourth and so on...)? Bad people. Noel Edmonds. Actually he falls under the first category anyway. Best piece of advice you'd give to aspiring musicians, or the best piece of advice you were given when you started? Be patient, but be careful you don't mistake laziness for patience. And if your primary objective is to succeed in the music industry, rather than creating good music, don't let being a nice guy hold you back. Most successful artists are pricks. Although I suppose if you had that ethos, that would come naturally anyway. If you're in a car going at the speed of light, and someone turns the headlamps on, would they do anything? The light from the headlamps would travel at twice the speed of light. Which is theoretically possible. Thanx to Johnny @ Triad PR Their debut and last album, 'Funfairs & Heartbreak' is out now on Re-Action records (Check Our Review: http://www.subba-cultcha.com/article.php?id=2630) By Jeremy Chick, Editor In Chief (intro by Chris Merriman) Second Chances Special Needs - Funfairs & Heartbreak review by Robert Pisani The music side of business can be intriguing. A number of bands will end up being dropped by their record label, but what of those bands amongst them that had the potential of being great but were screwed over? Case in point: Special Needs. Remember the great resurrection of British music in 2004? Well, Special Needs were one of those bands supported by the NME. They released a pretty good debut single and they had an album ready to go. Then they were dropped. Sorting out a new record deal proved to be too much of a lengthy process and the band ended up calling it a day. Many months later Re-Action records have done the smart thing and by releasing this album the public still gets to savour this lost talent. Funfairs and Heartbreak could have definitely been recorded in the Britpop era: character studies, mod-influenced melodies and an overall catchiness that is hard to beat. You can almost imagine them supporting a Blur gig. Sylvia kicks off the record, and the jangly guitar sets the pace and will make you prick up your ears. But Britpop nostalgia aside I see no reason why F&H should not appeal to a younger generation. The furious drumfest Blue Skies, The Jam meets JAMC Gloucester Road and the anthemic A Time to Remember are all good, fun and surprisingly consistent. This world’s unfair! A band like Kaiser Chiefs is still around unlike these guys who have done the same thing on a more qualitative and authentic scale. But second chances do exist. Who knows? This could be the first step towards a comeback.