Standards is arguably the best thing Lloyd Cole has made since his groundbreaking debut with the band the Commotions, 1984's Rattlesnakes. For the last 10 years Lloyd has pursued a quieter path not least on his last album 2010's folk-country-styled Broken Record. Where that fine album presents the acoustic, wooden Lloyd, his new album Standards is gleamingly, brazenly electric. Never more than on Standards, electric Lloyd has always tapped into New York rock's electricity grid, from Dylan '65 through Television '77 to Lou Reed's high-tension '80s classics The Blue Mask and New York. Playing drums on the last-named, Fred Maher is reunited for 'Standards' with bassist Matthew Sweet to form the rhythm section that kept time on Lloyd's debut solo album 1990's 'Lloyd Cole' and its follow up '91's Don't Get Weird On Me Babe. With Joan (As Police Woman) Wasser on piano / backing vocals, and Lloyd not only singing but playing synths amidst some of the crispest, stormiest, most stinging electric guitar, it's a tight ship with a tight sound which tautens and relaxes according to the temper of the song.
Standards is arguably the best thing Lloyd Cole has made since his groundbreaking debut with the band the Commotions, 1984's Rattlesnakes. For the last 10 years Lloyd has pursued a quieter path not least on his last album 2010's folk-country-styled Broken Record. Where that fine album presents the acoustic, wooden Lloyd, his new album Standards is gleamingly, brazenly electric. Never more than on Standards, electric Lloyd has always tapped into New York rock's electricity grid, from Dylan '65 through Television '77 to Lou Reed's high-tension '80s classics The Blue Mask and New York. Playing drums on the last-named, Fred Maher is reunited for 'Standards' with bassist Matthew Sweet to form the rhythm section that kept time on Lloyd's debut solo album 1990's 'Lloyd Cole' and its follow up '91's Don't Get Weird On Me Babe. With Joan (As Police Woman) Wasser on piano / backing vocals, and Lloyd not only singing but playing synths amidst some of the crispest, stormiest, most stinging electric guitar, it's a tight ship with a tight sound which tautens and relaxes according to the temper of the song.