The Wreck of The Bel Argosy
Bel Argosy
Limited Edition 7” Vinyl
Independent Release, 2012
New York’s Bel Argosy has this 7” they pressed precious few copies of because they don’t want to upset the balance of the world.
Really. Physical copies of The Wreck of The Bel Argosy is strictly limited, because they want a discerning listener to be privy to this, otherwise, strangers will soon begin to recognize the members of Bel Argosy on the street, they’ll have to spend what money they do have on security and start rethinking what to buy people during the holidays, now that they’re famous.
“Into the Distance,” is a loose sort of opening number, about seafaring. There’s a nice bit of guitar chaos in the middle section, but it really just sounds like the band is warming up.
“P-Centric” has the cool aloof delivery of a 1974 Lou Reed, when he’s finally made his peace with the rest of the world not falling head over heels in love with the Velvet Underground noise overloads and decided to focus on something that sounded like songwriting. Singer Billy Lopez has a great delivery that’s bored, annoyed and bemused all at once. He sounds like the only one around that really knows what’s going on.
“Yer Business,” gets big points for avoiding the obvious pitfall of adding unnecessary distortion. It’s got a great late 60’s pop vibe, that’s catchy, tense and enough energy to start a fire. The guitar leads are bright and memorable.
But it’s the closing number, “World’s Not Me,” that sounds like Johnny Thunders, Richard Hell and the original Heartbreakers started goofing off with a Monkees song and then made it their own. Blending an agitated jingle jangle melody with a go for broke performance, sometimes it feels barely held together and it even ends like a Heartbreakers number, a glorious mess, of distraction and genuine spite.
Bel Argosy offers an interesting window here on their thought process. Pop hooks and melody fueled by gallons of coffee and NYC animosity it’ll make you wonder what lies on the horizon for this bunch. They already declared, “I’m not the world!”
Let’s be thankful and wait with considerable anticipation for what’s next. Until then, press repeat over and over and over again.
(pssssst. Between you and me, this is also available as a free download if you follow this link)www.facebook.com/belargosy/app_204974879526524
https://www.facebook.com/belargosy
Hand-numbered 7″ vinyl recording of our debut four-song album, featuring beautiful full-color artwork by Andrew Cohen (howzitfunnies.blogspot.com) and hand-drawn liner notes by lead singer Billy Lopez!