Title:At the Club By: Kenickie Released by: Warner Released on: 1997 Rating (out of 10): 7 Date: 06/29/2001
Eating Lipstick and Drinking Champagne
At the Club is an all-out power-pop treasure by a British band who never got the Stateside attention they deserved. I bought this album after hearing "In Your Car" on my college radio station and seeing a promo copy on sale for $3.99.
I buy a lot of used CDs, and I'm always fully prepared to take my chances based on what little I know about the artist. I took to At the Club as soon as I put it on; it's one of those records that always manages to charm its way back into my CD player.
Kenickie's debut is one of the most heavily produced popternative albums I've ever heard, and I think that narrows its appeal down to a specific fan base:
1) kids who have outgrown The Spice Girls, but still crave glamour, raunch (or whatever the Sesame Street version of raunch is), and Anna Sui glitter eyeshadow.
2) post-ironic pop scholars who devour Big Star and Cheap Trick (and in turn, Smashing Pumpkins and latter-day Hole) and are absolutely mortified that Tom Cruise has the rights to the Shaggs biopic.
Kenickie's formula (which they couldn't recreate for their rather dull second album, Get In [unavailable except as a U.K. import]) was a mix of enthusiastic girl-group harmonies; teen silliness a la Blast Off Country Style; arena speed-riff bliss and dreamy major-seventh heaven; lyrics about getting kitted out in PVC, going out at night, drinking, and having a laugh with your mates; and lead vocals (courtesy of Lauren Laverne) that sounded like a young, bratty Kirsty MacColl (particularly on "People We Want").
The only weak spots on At the Club are "Robot Song" (a slow number that trips up the pace of the sequencing) and "Punka" (but only for the stupid lyrics—musically, it's one of pop's best teen anthems ever).
Otherwise, At the Club is one of those albums that's perfect for blasting in your apartment at 6:30 on a Friday evening, as you apply your lipstick and adjust your dress for the 16th time. When you get done with Tuscadero's The Pink Album, give this one a spin.
