This is an album that catches you completely by surprise. You soon realise that there is far more than meets the ear here. At its heart is an excellent example of UK Beat from the second half of the sixties and The Tambles have that down to a tee, beautifully played and atmospherically ace in detail.
A great example is Home which has the sound and feel nailed. But there is much more on show, there is an ability to mix verses and choruses with the lead up sounding nothing like the chorus. Take for instance Listen, all I can think of through the verse is the Batman Theme, but then the chorus just explodes into the catchiest pop imaginable.
Then there is the opener, Reminding Me Of You is multiple songs in one. Starting off all Southern Rock and then goes all Ray Davies does Country and onto a piano led Brass affair. The Dutch quartet certainly know their stuff, it would be easy to be as one trick as Ocean Colour Scene, but they aren't set in their ways.
Can Only Hope is a bit like your Grandad doing Park Life to someone strumming Stray Cat Strut, but the chorus goes all Zutons and then there is a blistering Guitar solo. Wild Wild River is real hee haw Country, First Light Groove is splendid Psych. Got Me Going is great UK 80s lad pop, very different to everything that surrounds it.
She's Not A Lover is a fantastic closer, Power Pop in essence with a driving riff and just a pinch of Early Beatles with a hippy outro with some Great Brass. Sister Augustine is a wonderful cross between Manfred Mann and UK Glam Rock whilst never losing its beat.
Many criticise new music in a why do we need another Kinks when we have the originals manner? I have no idea why because when you have such genre crossing joy as Scraping By, you want to celebrate it. There's an underlying wit in this awesome album. Others try to pull off different bits. This lot master it and with some style. I highly recommend the album to all.
You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about The Tambles here.
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