“Smell The Glove” is Spinal
Tap’s seventeenth album, and probably
their finest to date. However, don’t bother
buying this newly digitally remastered,
ultimate, gold edition, strictly numbered,
black edged C.D unless you have a suitable
player which will go to 11 on the volume
control, or you will miss the point of
this masterpiece of Big Hair music. What
first attracted me to this music was the
fantastic artwork that had gone into the
cover. I mean you cannot get more black
than this (forget parody band Metallica’s
Black album, the cover was actually just
dark grey). Mott is the proud owner of
an original Vinyl copy of this 1982 release,
signed by the members of the band. Although
you do have to hold it at a forty five
degree angle to catch a glimpse of them
as the band signed in black marker pen.
Well, at least I think it was the band,
it was a bit dark at the time.
But what of the music? Well, it’s good,
in fact “Very Good”. But I will not leave
you with a two-word review as my competition
from Rolling Stone did when reviewing
“Taps” tenth album “Shark Sandwich”, which,
whilst very succinct, was completely misunderstood
by the general public.
What you get from “The Tap” here is full
throttle Rock & Roll, firing on all
seven cylinder’s (not six…. seven!), where
all five Taps play as loud as they can,
except for the quiet bits.
Co-founder David St. Hubbins (who looks
nothing like actor Michael McKeen) plays
the best air guitar ever recorded, and
you can hear the Dandruff fly on Rockers
like “America”. Nigel Tufnel (who does
actually look very much like actor Christopher
Guest), the band’s lead guitarist, excels
on all the solos here, especially whilst
playing with his feet, or the breathtaking
solo spot playing his Stradivarius electric
guitar with a Renoir violin. Bassist Derek
Smalls (who doesn’t care if he looks like
actor Harry Sheoer) made famous the Gibson
flying triple bass, the instrument designed
to give real “Bottom” end to some of Taps
better known songs. The other two musicians
on the album were Vic Savage, who joined
the band on the condition he had so many
keyboards that neither the band nor the
audience could actually see him, so he
may still be a member of the band or not,
nobody knows, and drummer I.C.N.O Evil.
Unfortunately he is not with us anymore
due to a nasty moment involving a horse,
a game of water polo, a rubber ring and
an old World War One Torpedo. No suspicious
circumstances were found.
These days you can hear “Taps” influence
on many of Hard Rocks top bands, including
Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, The Wombles,
and Fat Boy Slim. But none can live up
to the true glory of Tap at their best,
losing their way to the stage, the echoes
of a dwarf trampling all over Stonehenge,
Derek Smalls caught in a cocoon, or Nigel
throwing his back out on stage.
For the purist, a wee hit of Trivia for
you. The album cover is not just black
but actually a very very close picture
of a lady’s black leather glove.
For those of you that haven’t seen the
movie, I apologize (but get out and see
it).
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
