Brief Lives Review

 

If only reality were as colourful as the lives of the people who populate Would-Be-Goods songs, all of them living in, if not opulent wealth, at least the most dignified squalor. Since becoming the crown jewel of the enigmatic, short-lived él Records in 1988, the songs of group mastermind Jessica Arah have provided her idealisation of various fantasy worlds. "Brief Lives" is only the third Would-Be-Goods album in over 13 years, and is better even than the cult-classic debut, "The Camera Loves Me". Featuring former members of Heavenly and Razorcuts, it trades the previous albums' hermetical snow-globe polish for a rougher, livelier sound that, in terms of quintessential Englishness, is closer to "Village Green" than "White Cliffs of Dover." This is a worthy companion to your Magnetic Fields and Belle and Sebastian collections. --Careless Talk Costs Lives

Not many bands could survive a near-ten year layoff between full-length releases and survive this well intact, but it's obvious that Jessica Griffin and her Would-Be-Goods are not the common guitar-pop band. Having dropped off the radar of the British twee-pop scene she helped create, Griffin follows up a few years of scattered live performances and E.P.'s worth of material with a remarkably solid set of shimmering guitar tunes and vignettes cataloguing the whimsical travails of an impressive array of lonely and self-absorbed characters. Her lyrical or melodic sense not dulled by the years of inactivity, the songs crackle with a vibrancy and maturity that arguably rivals her work from a decade earlier. Joined by guitarist Peter Momtchiloff (formerly of twee-pop legends Heavenly), the sixteen songs bound from the early Beatles vigor of "Dilettante" and "Flashman" to the sweetly swinging "Butterfly Kiss" and the sorrowful "Whitsun Bride," as Griffin cuts to the essence of her stories in a style reminiscent of Ray Davies. All in all, Brief Lives is a fine testament to Griffin's consistency as a songwriter and resiliency as an artist. --All Music Guide

Jessica's smart words, lush baroque pop, and stylish taste are in full force on this, her third LP and first new one in ages. I'm preparing champagne cocktails, sorting my diamond collection, and reading situationist poems to "Vivre Sa Vie," "Elegant Rascal," and "Butterfly Kiss." Welcome back, Jessica. --Chickfactor

There's an English voice releasing some lovely haunting balladry juxtaposed with somewhat poppy magic dust music. Would be? They should be called Do-Be-Goods! --Roctober

Classy, elegant pop tunes with a wispy European air, there's a definite Francoise Hardy feel to this beautifully laid-back album from the Would-Be-Goods. Opener 'Mystery Jones' is Heavenly-esque in stature (unsurprising given the pedigree of the Would-Be-Goods' members), but it's on 'Bad Lord Byron', with its swaying strings and wonderfully elegant vocal style, that the band really come into their own. The music here is incredibly pretty, carefully arranged, and has a curious spring-like something to it that's hard to place but so pleasing to hear. Jessica Griffin's voice, a sultry, measured tone that sounds both educated and sensuous, combined with deftly underpronounced arrangements, are the key to the success here. 'Esperanza' is almost a lullaby in its sound, yet the lyrics are clever, witty and biting, disguised cleverly by the Mediterranean sounding strings. 'A Season In Hell', too, is sinister but sung with the voice of a wide-eyed little girl. The effect is certainly mesmerising, leaving one consumed by the lyrics. Highlight, though, is the French 'Vivre sa vie'. It starts very slowly, very quietly, and is almost angelic in its tone, but then it bursts into such a wonderful chorus, which reminds me of 'California Dreaming' with its sense of gorgeous escapism, that it's somehow embedded itself completely in my psyche. This is a wonderful little gem of a record. Unassuming, low-key, but deliciously compelling, it reminds me of Melys' quieter moments, Carole King and a whole legion of French songstresses. And as such it's perfectly lovely. --Strange Fruit

This is the third album for the band who has enjoyed quite a bit of international success. Singer/songwriter Jessica Griffin brings a rather Nico-esque style to a band that plays with understated French-pop sound that works so well overseas and gets lukewarm reception stateside. Anyone who really wants to expand her musical horizons should find this band's work. The chord progressions are inventive without damaging our sensibilities, and the voice of Griffin is simply impossible to ignore. A+ or something. --Verbicide

Perdido en algún recoveco de la memoria había quedado aquel "The camera loves me" que la londinense Jessica griffin grabó en 1988 acompañada de the monochrome set y publicó en el (si no mítico, mitificado) sello él records de mike alway. desde entonces sólo había roto su silencio en 1992 para publicar "Mondo" en el sello japonés polystar. Hasta hace unos meses, cuando, con la colaboración de Peter momtchiloff (ex talulah gosh, heavenly, marine research), nos entregó un ep y ahora estas dieciséis canciones sin ningún desperdicio. Con una portada que evoca su antiguo "motorcycle girl", Jessica griffin despliega su voz pausada y de ecos franceses, emotiva sólo en lo justo para no perder la elegancia, con una flema que puede resultar tanto un alivio en los momentos de estrés emocional como irritante en un momento de exaltación. Con raíces en el pop urbano de alcurnia, el folk de la campiña inglesa y su revisión desde la independencia en los ochenta, "Brief lives" es un excelente ejercicio de refinamiento, educado, inteligente y distante, basado en la habilidad de Griffin para observar las breves vidas de sus semejantes sin ensuciarse las botas. Con todo, éste es un disco más introspectivo que lo que Griffin había hecho hasta ahora, con fantásticas melodías más tortuosas que dejan bastante de lado antiguos tonos cómico-ligeros, aun conservando el gusto por el exotismo ("esperanza"), los personajes históricos ("bad lord byron", el cabaret de "Richard III") y las referencias literarias (la irónica "a season in hell" o cómo un hotel barato resulta ser el mismísimo infierno en la tierra) y cinematográficas: el magnífico estribillo de "vibre sa vie", única canción acreditada a Peter momtchiloff y muy en la línea de marine research, justifica por sí solo la compra. --Rock de Lux

The Would-Be-Goods Brief Lives is one of those rare joys-an album in which nearly every track is just as enjoyable as the next. Crooner Jessica Griffin will no doubt remind some listeners of Dominique Durand from Ivy, while the music can best be desribed as '60s-inspired British pop. The violins on "Bad Lord Byron" transport audiences back to medieval times, while "Vivre Sa Vie" adds an interesting twist. With so much attention paid to the current crop of male, guitar-oriented English bands, the pop genius of the Would-Be-Goods may get overlooked. All the same, Brief Lives packs the sort of transcendental delivery needed to defy the harsh environment. --Rockpile Magazine

When it comes to making music, the British have always understood that beauty and frivolity aren't interchangeable words, whereas Americans - even some of the supposedly well-informed underground - have taken an arrogant and misguided idea that the phrase "pop" is equivalent to "disposability." No wonder the work of bands like The Would-Be-Goods has to be imported to these shores for Yankees in need of a brain-pop fix. Although The Would-Be-Goods come from a land where bands such as Belle and Sebastian and Black Box Recorder have kept intellect in pop without sacrificing hooks, Brief Lives doesn't follow in the musical footsteps of its heady countrymen. Instead, the band crafts a sound that mixes clean, loose guitars with keys and a relaxed rhythm section, but the keystone of Brick Lives is certainly singer/guitarist Jessica Griffin's clarion-call voice. With the restrained power and presence of a born chanteuse, Griffin's deliveries command attention when they mix dignity with their melodies ("Esperanza") or get slightly light-hearted with trite, rhyme-every-five-syllables songwriting ("1999"). It's almost enough to distract listeners from the poised arrangements that mix faintly jazzy rhythms and lonely guitar work reminiscent of early-years Delgados - almost, as they're too nice to ignore. Well-polished light pop isn't too uncommon, however. What makes Brief Lives really sing is Griffin's intriguing lyrics. Whether she gives the naughty/nice cliché a novel twist with a touch of well-felt innocence ("Trying to be Bad"), crafts a bittersweet tune of a man who has an impressive catalog of stage magician's powers but no sway over women ("Mystery Jones") or talks of vice, cheap hotels and strange characters of the night with a tone that's positively biblical ("A Season in Hell"), Griffin imbeds a keen sense of intrigue and mystery into her best songs. Brief Lives isn't all literate pop, however. At times Griffin's lyrics don't measure up to her best work, as when she goes the route of nonsensical absurdity with near-surrealist themes ("Elegant Rascal") or puts notions of quality lyrics aside for ones that stress clipped rhymes ("1999"). Nonetheless, The Would-Be-Goods are a welcome change of pace from the world of past-obsessed popsters in the American underground cranking out generation after generation of Beach Boys-inspired pure pop, '60s psychedelia and the all-too-common super-lush indie pop. --Aversion.com

Romántica, evasiva y culta como en sus mejores tiempos bajo los auspicios de él (sello de Mike Alway), la británica Jessica Griffin entrega un tercer tratado de pop sin fecha definida. Un disco autumnal y melancólico, aglutinador de encuentros y desencuentros de personajes sofisticados, leídos, ausentes. --Guia del Ocio de Barcelona

Their third album of blissfully self-assured pop narratives (and first since 1993), the Would-Be-Goods again pick at the mantle largely vacated by songwriters like Ray Davies and Morrisey and dive headlong into a varied and vigorous set of songs rooted in whimsical mystery. Not that there aren't more than enough entrants to that hallowed, patently British school, of songwriting, but few truly capture the charm and grace of the masters of that genre as the Would-Be-Goods. Although having roots in the 1980's and the now deceased el label, the Would-Be-Goods lived on in the memories of their fans (many of which were curiously located in Japan) and on their out-of-print recordings, only returning to the scene in the spring of 2001. With lead vocalist Jessica Griffin's vocals still lined with intrigue and intonation, guitarist Peter Momtchiloff's (of seminal twee-popsters Heavenly) perfectly glistening guitar lines creating just the right emotional ether for the narrative drama, and the songs falling like rapid fire short stories, these entries hit as hard as they did in their heyday and on just as many different levels. From the opening shifting chord changes of "Mystery Jones" to the quieting vibraphone touches of "Fancy Man," characters are caught in various stages of awkwardness and uncertainty, paired with a melodic sensibility that serves as a sonic receipt that makes sure that the storyline will unfold in your head as you hum the words for days afterward. Case in point, the big rolling piano grooves of "Richard III" or the sing-songy folksiness of "1999" are songs that little need the curiosity of their storylines to worm their way into your mind. Further, as sad swirling strings balance the effervescent early-Beatles energy of tracks like "Flashman" and "Dilettante," the songwriting never becomes redundant and displays a mastery of the addition and subtraction of the right elements. Just as powerful when reduced to the basic elements of guitar and voice, the gorgeously lilting "Esperanza" finds a strange earnestness, and the mournful guitar and mandolin of "Whitsun Bride" are beautifully compact windows into the lives of desperate characters. Whether depicting hopeful lovers in the softly swinging "Butterfly Kiss" or breaking into French to hold the rhyme scheme of the lonely artist vignette in "Diminuendo," Griffin's tales unfold with delicacy and great attention to detail, drawing you in with melody and wit. More than anything, though, Griffin's songwriting is recognizable for its deeply mysterious melodies, constantly bending and shifting around minor chord changes and drawing the listener in with the inherent sadness of the characters dwelling inside her songs. In short, you'd be hard pressed to find a better guitar-pop album released this year. Even if it ultimately breaks little new ground, the songs are nearly perfect entries into the classic pop canon and genuinely create an environment where listeners can lose themselves in a catchy narrative. Everything lines up exceedingly well - a near perfect marriage of lyric, melody, and aesthetic. As such, the 16 tracks cover enough territory that repeated listens are nearly obligatory to truly capture the totality of content encoded in each song. --Delusions Of Adequacy

after the digression masquerading as a review that we supplied last month, it seems only fair to concentrate on the music this time round. we will allow ourselves merely the observation that all the analogies you will hear to parisian cafes when describing the would-be-goods' appealing european whimsy seem to us be flawed - in our happily not-unextensive experrience of parisienne cafe society, the key ingredients are omelettes, café americain, bière blanche and virtua striker machines - none of which truly exude the elegance of jessica griffin's writing. despite what you have heard, the musical journey, if any, is often back in time, rather than across la manche - being transported to different epochhs by the ageless delicacy of the near-acoustic. so while, admittedly, tunes like "butterfly kiss" would perfectly soundtrack a stroll across the seine to la rive gauche, songs like "esperanza" - musically, at least - or "whitsun bride", with its plucked mandolin, could equally have been b-sides to henry viii's alleged debut single "greensleeves". The arrangements and the chord progressions through this album are often so simple, strums softly beating like the wings of angels, that many a familiar song from history's more recent popular canon is also brought to mind. so "bad lord byron" (another period effortlessly recalled) disturbingly apes "magical mystery tour", while "a season in hell" reminds us, at least, of a regency-era "she's not there"... though there's nothing maybe quite as instant as "emmanuelle béart" or even the delightful "sugar mummy", the guitars do get tuned up on numbers like "vivre sa vie" and "dilettante", while the six strings deployed with more restraint on "fancy man" etch melodies tellement sympa in the honeyed style of those chilled shop assistants songs like "somewhere in china". (yes, the sleigh-bells help). "elegant rascal" is a brattishly decanted spoken word punk prayer set in the eternal ugliness of the elephant and castle - one of many songs set in and depicting our home city - with the coolly-pseudonymed "orson presence" on organ clearly particularly enjoying proceedings. the fine "1999" - a graceful nursery rhyme which sounds like the softies singing a thesaurus - ensures things end with a flourish (remember when that title was so moderne, even futuristic ?) in fact the only downside is that "flashman", seemingly, isn't actually about stan. we caught the WBGs live in highbury last month and they shook off a nervous start to charm us all rather. coming from someone who, it seems, became a pop star almost by accident, "brief lives", being both romantic with a capital R, and tender to a T, is pretty impressive stuff. the sound of serendipity at work. --In Love With These Times

Fey-watchers will applaud the release of Brief Lives, which takes the Would-be-goods' catalogue up to three albums in 14 years. Jessica Griffin, the well-spoken former banker who launched the band with her sister Jackie, is now the sole member, but that loss has had no tangible effect on the music. It remains so fragile you hardly dare breathe while the CD is playing. Peter Momtchiloff on guitar and Orson Presence on harpsichord create a shimmering setting, but the pleasure of Brief Lives is Jessica's depiction of an upper-crust home counties England that is as extinct as Morrissey's doleful north. She sings of 'elegant rascals' who 'live in flats in the Elephant and Castle'. In accents of polite horror, she also introduces 'a pretty debutante' who is reduced to living, God forbid, in a cheap hotel. Marvellous stuff. 4 stars out of 5. --The Guardian

If only reality were as colourful, as laced with intrigue, as the lives of the people who populate Would-Be-Goods songs, all of them entangled in romantic dramas and living in, if not opulent wealth, at least the most dignified squalor. Since arguably becoming the crown jewel of the enigmatic, short-lived él Records in 1988, group mastermind Jessica Arah's songs have sprung from her idealization of various fantasy worlds. "When I was growing up, I spent most of my time reading," she explains from her London home. "Fiction seemed more satisfying than real life, and often more real. Someone wrote to me saying he thought I was trying to 'project my ideas and feelings onto my songs' characters in a Baudelairean way.'" Brief Lives is only the third Would-Be-Goods album in over 13 years, and is better even than the cult-classic debut, The Camera Loves Me. Featuring as near to an indie-pop super-group as has ever been assembled (including Heavenly's Peter Momtchiloff and Razorcuts' Struan Robertson), it trades the previous albums' hermetical snow-globe polish for a rougher, livelier sound that, in terms of quintessential Englishness, is closer to Village Green than "White Cliffs of Dover." A worthy companion to your Magnetic Fields and Belle and Sebastian collections - a 10-year wait for another of these might not be unreasonable. --Exclaim!

Brief Lives features the standard folk-rock backdrop: soft rock melts into acoustic singer-songwriting, supported by occasional strings. It is the lyrics that make the Would-Be-Goods' third album so memorable. Band leader Jessica Griffin fills each song with enough characters to populate an entire city. Most of these sixteen songs are simply about people: their experiences, relationships and acquaintances. Some of the songs actually borrow characters from history (see "Bad Lord Byron" and "Richard III"), but most are simply fictional. In this sense, the relationships between the songs are as enjoyable, if not more so, than the songs themselves. True to the album's title, many of the songs are vignettes culled from others' lives, and are often no longer than two or three minutes. "Flashman" recalls the mildly "impractical" adventures of a boy by that name (perhaps based on the George MacDonald Fraser books). "Butterfly Kiss" is about a musician who "got this far on a wing and a prayer and a second-hand guitar". Other songs' subject matter -- "Fancy Man", "Rich and Strange" and "Elegant Rascal", for instance -- is more self-explanatory. Griffin's vocals are consistently graceful, and her lyrics aren't merely memorable, but often personal and poetic. One can't help but suspect that many songs, especially the dreamy "Esperanza" and the quasi-rebellious "Trying To Be Bad", are at least slightly autobiographical; the aforementioned songs in particular express an array of un-taxing and unpretentious emotion, seen through the eyes of an anonymous narrator. "Vivre sa vie" and "A Season In Hell" also stand out -- the first is a catchy number sung in French, and the second features a memorable, muted lead guitar line and some of the album's bluntest lyrics: "Have you spent the night in hell? / It's a cheap hotel." The Would-Be-Goods' music is nothing new, but the lyrics give each song individual and original shapes; it's an excellent European version of folksy American acts like Dar Williams and The Nields. --Splendid

Would-Be-Goods is essentially the nom de plume of Jessica Griffin, who supplies vocals and guitars on Brief Lives, her musical outlet's third full-length. Griffin was originally a protegee of Mike Alway and his label-cum-wannabe-media-monolith el Records; the two of them released a mythological album of perfectly pleasant continental pop, The Camera Loves Me (backed by members of pop-jazzsters The Monochrome Set), in 1988. Griffin was largely silent until 1992, when a second album, Mondo was released in Japan and remained hard to find until 1998. Featuring Peter Momtchiloff (formerly of Marine Research and Heavenly) on bass and guitar, Orson Presence (apparently his real name, although with the scent of Griffin's former svengali Alway's obsession with pseudonyms lingering here, it's anyone's guess whether or not this is true) on pianos and organs, and Jim Kimberley on drums, Brief Lives will bring joy to anyone who's familiar with Would-Be-Goods. Griffin's always been a brilliant writer, creating a world with the simplest lyrics, and this pseudo-concept album is no different. The album's theme is mirrored in the album photos: Griffin straddles on a motorbike on the cover, dresses in front of a mirror on the rear, and stands forlornly on a balcony on the tray card. Just like the art, the album give us snapshots of the brief lives of its various characters. There's the "Elegant Rascal" who "lives on kipper patty / Purchased from a local cafe", the narrator of "Richard III", who eats ice cream on a sunny afternoon with her "wicked uncle" who offers to set the narrator on his knee, and the woman in "Fancy Man" who hears people whispering behind her bed about her fancy man who's not really her fancy man after all. So vivid are Griffin's lyrics that we can actually see the unfortunate protagonist of "A Season in Hell" suffering: he has to put up with "The waiter's hollow laugh / And the maitre-d's moustache / And the ring around the bath", not to mention "The bottle of cheap red / Hidden underneath the bed". One of the delightful elements about the Would-Be-Goods' debut was the fact that almost every song was accompanied with an invisible smirk or arched eyebrow. Perhaps this was because of Alway's influence -- or The Monochrome Set's (who never really took themselves seriously, anyway) -- but Griffin's liner notes certainly didn't help, with their narrative about a blase young woman going to the theater with a "complete Philistine" named Archie who likes the way that "boiled lamb and overdone carrots reminded him of school". But while that album was replete with nudges-in-the-ribs songs like "Velasquez and I" (I??) and "Cecil Beaton's Scrapbook", the new album comes across as more lyrically and musically mature. What's immediately noticeable about this album is its melancholy quality. Sure, the song "Death a la Carte" did appear on Would-Be-Goods' debut, but that song came across as harmless fun: for crying out loud, the title rhymed with "apple tart". The feeling of something being somehow wrong behind the stories of socialites and luminaries is evident from the lyrics of "Mystery Jones". This fellow is a "Prestidigitator and creator of illusions / You'll never believe"; his wife Mrs. Jones is an exotic dancer who "didn't have the answers / So he sawed her in two". However, this gothic image is completely undercut by the warm, vamping organ on the bridge of the song. Later on, we're told in the waltzing "Bad Lord Byron" that the dignitary is "bad / And dangerous to know / Said Lady Caroline Lamb / And she, for one, should know". In this case, Byron's notoriousness feels like it's been reduced to drawing-room gossip. So maybe the tongue-in-cheek quality hasn't disappeared completely. "Trying to Be Bad" begins, "Mama said to me / Always say thank you and please / Don't forget your handkerchief / And never show your knees / Never show your knees." It's almost like we're back in the realm of the coquettish "The Camera Loves Me" from Griffin's first album. We find out later, though, that the narrator dreams about sitting at a corner table "in a dark cafe /Waiting for a stranger's / Hand upon my knee / Waiting for somebody to say / Come home with me / But what would I do / As my buttons were undone / And all my inhibitions / Surfaced one by one." These lyrics are accompanied by an evil guitar line that underscores the fact that this isn't merely fun and games anymore. While Griffin sings like her heroines Francoise Hardy and Astrud Gilberto, the music backing her lyrics is varied enough in its influences to keep things moving. From the French pop feel of "Vivre Sa Vie" (written by Momtchiloff, and, considering his former bands, this song is the most Heavenly on the album-Griffin can't help but sound like Amelia Fletcher to anyone who's familiar with her), to the Spanish guitar ballad of "Esperanza", to the British music hall of "Richard III", to the percolating organ-driven rock of "Elegant Rascal", to the gentle strings of "1999" -- the music is sophisticated and maintains a fine balance of delicacy and strength throughout. A friend once compared Would-Be-Goods to a sophisticated older sister, who simply can't help but be a goody-goody. With Brief Lives, we've discovered that the older sister is still sophisticated, although she's looking at the world with a more jaundiced eye now. --PopMatters

With their 1988 single "The Camera Loves Me," Jessica Griffin and the Would-Be-Goods scored about three minutes (the approximate length of the song) of fame in the indie community. Despite releasing two albums (one in '88 sharing its name with the single, the other 1993's Mondo), however, 'twas only that single that made much of a blip on the radar. With the release of their 2002 album, Brief Lives, it's clear that the Would-Be-Goods is the answer to the question, "What would Belle & Sebastian sound like with a female lead singer?" Griffin has teamed up with ex-Heavenly guitarist Peter Momtchiloff and produced an album that will thrill today's crop of indie kids. "Dilettante" is the pick from the record, but the delicate piano on "Butterfly Kiss" is swoon-worthy. The violin on "Rich and Strange" adds strength to the song, and the fuzz guitar on "Elegant Rascal," though unexpected, somehow works. Sure, a lot of it's absolutely as twee as can be. But the Would-Be-Goods add a level of depth that keeps Brief Lives from escaping from memory when it's over. --Amplifier Magazine

Unfortunately, sophisticated pop tunes do not always crack into the American music charts. Would-Be-Goods latest release entitled Brief Lives is a unique mix of folk, classical and jazz wrapped up in a world of lovers and aristocrats. Brief Lives contains many great songs such as "Mystery Jones," "Vivre sa vie," "Richard III" and "A Season In Hell." This album is definitely worth checking out. --Erasing Clouds

Timeless pop combo Would-Be-Goods deliver a sprawling work of acoustic-based pop, grey and downcast as a rainstorm. Jessica Griffin's alto is haunting as an oboe, floating over strummed guitars and ringing vibes. Though they are by no means a goth band, Would-Be-Goods have the same sort of downcast spirit and ethereal beauty. "Esperanza" is a delicate music box waltz, swaying softly and slowly. Griffin's lyrics are snapshots and wry observations, opening "A Season in Hell" with the refrain "Have you spent the night in hell?/It's a cheap hotel." On the singularly stirring "1999" (no, it's not a Prince cover), Griffin sings over synthesized strings, listing all her futile attempts to find satisfaction. ...As refreshing and sad as spring rain. --Shredding Paper

It's nice to see Miss Jessica Griffin back in action with last year's Emmanuelle Béart ep and now this. These 16 tunes seem more straight ahead pop than her previous works on the Cherry Red label (including the classic The Camera Loves Me). On here Jessica is aided and abetted by Peter M. (from Talulah Gosh/Heavenly/Marine Research) and some dude named Orson Presence (great name!) plus a few others and they take us to places you only thought you'd read about in The Canterbury Tales, we'll hear about 'Bad Lord Byron', 'Whitsun Bride', 'Elegant Rascal' ' Mystery Jones' and many more. Jessica sings about these characters as if she's lived enough lives for that (and I believe she has). If you want to take a chance and do something truly unique in your life then go out and buy this record. --Dagger

One of the things you won't learn, if you don't have the patience for records you can't necessarily justify individually, is what stories they make in combination. You'd miss, for example, some key chapters in Matinée Recordings' stubborn odyssey of anachronism. Sarah and Harriet are long gone, and none of their heirs are literal polemicists like Matt and Clare were, but as record labels with coherent musical agendas, arguably Matinée, Shelflife and Library are even more focused than Sarah was. Matinée's catalog splits time between the archives and the present, but with a sure enough sense of purpose that missing decades hardly register. Slum Clearance was old songs and Brief Lives is new ones, but the Would-Be-Goods are an old band, and this third album, arriving a decade after their second, continues more or less the same style-derivation from Heavenly that the Siddeleys began. The Would-Be-Goods have the advantage of personnel overlap, having recruited Heavenly guitarist Peter Momtchiloff, but to me they stretch the form further than the Siddeleys, despite the connection. Singer Jessica Griffin enunciates like Amelia and Johnny, but her voice has a sultry whoosh to it that the other two lack, edging towards Dominique Durand of Ivy or Sarah Nixey of Black Box Recorder. The Would-Be-Goods' songs are more restrained than the Siddeleys' or Heavenly's, a little more pastel than sparkly, more simmery than bubbly. At least half these songs seem to have been yanked, blinking, out of the Sixties, uneasy hybrids of folk-song and chanson for whose limited appeal Donovan's not-so-enduring greatness is testament. Frenchness is not generally a positive pop trait in my taxonomies, but for me these songs walk the border between cloying and intriguing, and somehow this makes the ones that stray onto my side seem all the more alluring. The galloping "Mystery Jones" could belong to the same archetype chronicle as the Psychedelic Furs' "Mr. Jones". The winking, breathy "Vivre sa vie" sprouts ragged guitars in the choruses. "Flashman" ticks and flutters, but does eventually settle into a groove. The cycling guitar and pinging vibes on "Fancy Man" are spare and sad. "Dilettante" is cheerfully uncluttered guitar pop, complete with twangy quasi-solos. "Rich and Strange" is both, the arrangement layered with strings, keyboards and a particularly inspired harpsichord twinkling atop them. A talking-blues digression, "Elegant Rascal", doesn't strike me as a good decision, but it's brief, and gives way to the elegant finale, "1999", Griffin's melody lilting over murmuring strings, a baroquely picked acoustic guitar and a few tiny flourishes of some faked wind instrument. One of the reasons Heavenly can't tell the whole story they began is that Marine Research represents only one of the paths Heavenly could have taken. Matinée collect others, and I'm happy to join them. Brief Lives is a glimpse into an alternate future Heavenly, mellowed and Euro-ized, old enough to realize that anything you're still rebelling against after a decade or two, you're probably rebelling against wrong. --The War Against Silence

Jessica Griffin, the singer of the Would-be-Goods, gives the impression of at least 5 A-levels acquired at a well respected London convent school. This may be because of her vocabulary (she hangs a hook on the word "saturnine"), a working knowledge of sexually ambiguous English poets, the audacity to rework Richard the Third as a bedroom farce or an admitted affection for "teachers with anthracite eyes" or innocent romantic boys that fall into corruption with too much grace. If this is the case, the album avoids being too insufferable, filling itself with what seems to be a genuine passion for the language. This is made most obvious by the copious literary allusions (including Rimbaud, Wilde and Byron). These allusions are not self-congratulatory, but find themselves as an inherent part of narratives that are both Byzantine and ambiguous. The complex narratives are matched by a music that combines both the four-piece rock outfit and the string quartet. A bass comforts a harpsichord and the rock quartet provides the muscle to propel the strings to places they have never seen. In these narratives, both musically and lyrically, there is a wickedness that lurks among shadows of lust. The song "Richard the Third" has a 17th century rave up feel and accompanies a song that may be about incest between "a wicked uncle you never knew you had" and the heroine although warned "not to accept the offer to sit on his knee," but who is a girl who "always keeps a promise and never kisses and tells" This is not the first time a naive personae is adopted. There is a song that sounds like the kind of verse a precocious teenager writes after hearing stories about the yacht and the half-sister. There are also songs that fret about school girl gossip and indicate hurt about being called a Dilettante. It's almost like she is afraid of growing up. The other thing that this album talks about is class. There are mentions of falling in love with the son of someone famous, and of "stealing compliments from someone's novels." There is a rock star imprisoned by his own fame, who treats it like a chauffeured car like the nightingale in his gilded cage. On the rock star track, there is a perfect match between music and words. The guitars are barbed and the drums are lonely and they seem to be designed to keep you in. These worries, about fame and the isolation of the upper classes, show a world that is impenetrable to those who are not manner born. There is an annoyance here, just because you can write a song that name checks Wilde's lovers (track 11, "Dimineudo") doesn't mean you have the golden key handed to you. This album is sumptuous in its music and clever in its lyrics, but these virtues do not mean that the Would-Be-Goods are any closer to the hoi-polloi. They want to be though, you can tell by how seductive their artifice is. --Dusted Magazine

Based around the song writing, guitar and vocals of Jessica Griffin, this sixteen-track album never seems to drag or hang about. There's not much unrequired playing in sight. In fact although the arrangements aren't sparse (strings, piano, organ harpsichord and more all present), there's very little here that's not necessary to the songs' make up. As well as having a very pure and clear vocal style that's reminiscent in its annunciation of Heavenly except for the lack of sha la la action, the songs bring to mind Gaelic 60's pop, Nick Cave, the Mamas and Papas, and English folk...so there's a pretty wide scope within the tracks on the album, but all eventually fall back and rest easy on the dominant vocal. On hearing this I ended up following the words as if they were spoken directly to me. Not in an authoritarian or dogmatic sort of way, but much more as part of an intimate discussion with the overriding message being don't assume, just listen. --Pennyblack

Following records on él and Japanese label Polystar, the Would-Be-Goods returned after a few years with an EP on Matinée, a 7" on Fortuna Pop! and now the Brief Lives album which is a joint release between both of those labels. The music and lyrics are sophisticated, classy and witty, peppered with historical, literary and highbrow musical references, and the occasional French lyric. This all gives the air of being penned by a songwriter who is well educated and perhaps upper middle class (Jessica's accent is certainly suggestive of both of these). The music is indiepop, but with FAR more sophistication than is the norm in this genre, and which sometimes nods towards other styles such as jazz, rock, folk, easy listening and Spanish music, but without actually becoming any of these. The more usual indiepop instrumentation appears alongside piano, organ, harpsichord, vibraphone, strings and mandolin. I have always loved the sound of the harpsichord and have often thought that if I was in a band there would have to be a harpsichord player and probably also a violinist. The use of harpsichord, along with a string section, in Rich and Strange, is very effective. I first heard Dilettante on the Matinée Summer Splash compilation, it was one of my favourite tracks there, so it's great to hear it's on here too. Whitsun Bride includes mandolin, courtesy of Jessica's mother Jackie, which gives a trad folk feel to the song. Again I find this effective, especially due to the fact that traditional folk is one of my very favourite kinds of music. Perhaps a touch too 'posh' for many, Jessica's lyrics describe characters and lifestyles that would no doubt be alien to the majority of people who were educated at yer average comprehensive school (that'd include me then). But whilst Jessica doesn't sing about things we can all identify with, I must say I like her music a lot. Grim and gritty urban realism this isn't; if this is what you want from a band, the Would-Be-Goods are not the band for you. But if it's witty escapism for grownups you're after, look no further. --Aquamarine

More tales from tweesville. The Would-be Goods are an odd lot, and I don't think I am quite clever enough to fully appreciate the reasons behind this album - but then again, maybe I'm reading too much into it. Y'see, take 'Bad Lord Byron', which obviously has some historical context to it. Now, listening to this, I really wish I'd listened to Mr Fowler in History lessons back at school, cos Jessica Griffin knows something I don't. There's a song called Richard III, 'Diminuendo'...and some songs sung in French. What does this mean? It means I need to get back to the books I think. Musically, this is a fine album, and incredibly well-produced. Favourites? Oh, 'Elegant Rascal' by a country mile. Just don't ask me to explain why... --Tasty

I have liked a number of things from this band, even though it has a real penchant for putting on snobby, artsy european airs. (Actually that's its stock in trade) The band is basically the vehicle for Jessica Griffin who gets assisted by Peter Momtchiloff and Orson Presence. If you've never heard them it would be hard to describe, as they meander in sound from Parisian cafe music to Twee to light brit pop, but it always has that air about itself. This outing doesn't disappoint in that regard, so what it really comes down to is, is the music good? Pretty much I'd say yes. Often the lyrics are innane, like on A Season in Hell which goes "Have you spent a night in hell? It's a cheap hotel. And the noises in the street, won't let you get to sleep......... It's Hell" However, it's exactly the kind of pop idiocy that sticks in your head ALL day long. The only thing I'm curious about is which the joke is: Does she actually thinks she's being serious and artsy or if she's aware she's taking the piss? This is sort of the equivalent of a european David Lynch-esque travellogue in some respects. It has an odd charm and enough of it's own style to make it interesting, and at times almost lovely. A 9 and rising... --Indie Spinzone

Een van mijn favoriete Britse indiebandjes aller tijden is Talulah Gosh. En niet alleen omdat de nummers van deze band zo ontzetten leuk zijn (het meeste werk is verzameld op Backwash), ook omdat sinds het verscheiden in 1989 de halve Britse indiepopscene een link lijkt te hebben met Talulah Gosh. Zo is er Would-Be-Goods, dat met Brief Lives haar derde CD aflevert en waarin we ex-Talulah Gosh-gitarist Peter Momtchiloff terugvinden, die overigens ook speelde in Heavenly en Marine Research. Het grootste verschil met genoemde bands is de afwezigheid van een duidelijke zangstem als die van Amelia Fletcher. Want ook bij Would-Be-Goods worden de vocalen door een vrouw verzorgd (Jessica Griffin), zij zingt een stuk rustiger en minder "punk" dan Amelia. Dit geldt ook wel een beetje voor de muziek, die is ook wat ingetogener, wat rustiger en zelfs nog wat liever dan genoemde bands (wat een boel zegt, want we hebben het hier over de grote namen uit de twee-pop!). Niet altijd even mooi in de toon, maar dat verhoogt het twee-gehalte alleen maar. Leuke CD! --Think Small

No se si Angel de Canciones Huérfanas - el responsable de la distribución de este disco en España- se habrá recuperado ya del shock resultante de haber escuchado este trabajo. Esperemos que si y así poder disfrutando de referencias tan valiosas como las que nos proporciona el fantástico sello Matiné. En este caso nos encontramos ante un disco especial: el, por ahora, último trabajo de los Would-be-goods un pequeño tesoro para los amantes de ese sonido que en su día Belle and Sebastian elevaron definitivamente a los altares. Me refiero a ese pop pulcro y detallista, de raíz clásica y mayormente acústico, arropado con certeros telones de cuerdas. Ese que nace en los Beatles, Love y Beach Boys, pasa por Nick Drake, se deja impregnar de aires franceses y los aromas ochenteros de grupos como Go-Betweens o los mismos Smiths. Si en los de Glasgow sustraemos la deuda contraida con la Velvet Undergournd y el soul norteño, le agregamos cierto aire arrabalero y la deliciosa fragancia de la siempre reivindicable Marianne Faithful (hay partes donde la voz de Jessica Griffin parece un calco de las monócromas cuerdas vocales de sister morphine ) nos encontraremos próximos a la formulación exacta de este disco exquisito, tercero ya en la singlatura del grupo. Luego, sólo nos queda buscar en su interior e ir sumando, canción tras canción, estrellas en nuestro hit parade particular, cuestión ésta nada fácil visto el altísimo nivel mostrado en cada uno de los 16 cortes incluidos. El mío se decanta, por una parte, hacia aquellas piezas de claro poso folk donde el reflejo de Marianne es más evidente ("Whitsun bridge" o "Esperanza" no desentonarían en el repertorio de su primero época), por la otra en hits incuestionables como "Bad lord byron", "Vivre sa vie" ( título robado del homónimo film de Jean Luc Godard) o "Dilettante" y, finalmente, dos debilidades personales: la hermosísima "Rich and Strange" y, sobre todo, "Butterfly kiss", una deliciosa nana de cierto paladar a bossa nova que últimamente compite en mi habitación con Velocette, Black Box Recorder, Gentle Waves o Ivy cuando llega la noche y lo único que quiero es que una dulce caricia pop me cierre los ojos hasta que al día siguiente el despertador, el trabajo y lo que me queda de carrera lo fastidie todo. Feliz viaje pop a quienes se hagan con esta maravilla. --Feedback Zine

Il primo album della band londinese "The Camera Loves Me" (a cui partecipavano dei loro compagni d'etichetta Monochrome Set) uscì per la èl, del cui inconfondibile sound i Would-Be-Goods divennero veri e propri portavoce. Il secondo "Mondo" venne licenziato dalla giapponese Polystar nel 1992. Con Brief Lives su Matinée Records la band di Jessica Griffin approda al terzo album, forse quello della maturità. Con l'aggiunta di Peter Momtchiloff (ex Talula Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research) alla chitarra solista, Jessica è in grado di confezionare sedici brani di ottimo guitar pop. La sua voce fa letteralmente 'brillare di luce propria' l'attualizzato mondo Fitzgeraldiano che vi viene narrato. Gli amanti si incontrano e lasciano davanti a macchine cromate o eleganti coffe bar riproducendo iconograficamente la condizione acustica dell'ascoltatore con le perle dell'album. Il solo brano Dilettante giustificherebbe l'ascolto del disco per il suo perfetto equilibrio tra la malinconica bellezza dei passaggi melodici e l'accattivante groove sixties che farebbe dimenare l'ascoltatore all'infinito. Si può racchiudere più di un mondo in un solo brano? Immaginate in sedici. --Kathodik

Den märkliga sagan om Jessica Griffin gick in i sitt tredje kapitel med ett par fina singlar och detta alldeles charmanta 16-spårsalbum. Det som började för 14 år sedan med den flickgeniala "The Camera Loves Me" på él och fortsatte med den nästan löjligt bombastiska och överlastade "Mondo" fem år senare mognade plötsligt, efter åtta års tystnad, och blommade ut i fullfjädrad, trallvänlig gitarrpop med intelligenta, underhållande texter. Ingen som tycker att The Monochrome Set är något av det mest briljanta som existerat bör missa "Brief Lives". --Twisterella