About time we had some Doves on here. I love Doves, they are one of only a handful of bands from this century who whenever I play them I think – Yes! This is right up my street. Brilliant run of those four albums ‘Lost Souls’ – The Last Broadcast – Some Cities – Kingdon of Rust. (I’ve not listened to their most recent one that much)
I moved to Manchester a year after Lost Souls was released and it is the key album that I associate with that time of first living there. I stayed for seven hazy years and all of the first three albums have a lot of memories for me of living in Manchester, mainly of bars and pubs. I used to see Jimi out and about a lot, often in the Polar Bar in Chorlton, he always had nice coats on. Talented bloke. I think it must be hard to sing while playing bass. Harder than rhythm guitar. I could never fucking do it anyway when I had a bass. He’s left handed isn’t he and plays a right handed bass but upside down? He’s a great drummer as well as anyone who has seen them live will attest when he swops instruments with Andy for some songs. I like that. The Beta Band used to do stuff like that with Steve Mason putting his guitar down and jumping on a second set of drums with his hood zipped up like Kenny out of South Park. I digress. Jimi drummed for Cherry Ghost as well. Doves have that brothers thing as well going on with Andy and Jez that can often lend that intuitive, inherent sense of musical harmony in some bands. I liked the album they did together as Black Rivers.
My choice of song was gonna be between the Cedar Room, There Goes the Fear, Walk in Fire or Kingdom of Rust and I couldn’t decide. Then I was playing Some Cities on Monday night and this came on. I found myself doing involuntary finger clicks and hand claps whilst cooking in the kitchen. Like a lot of songs from that album, it reminds me a bit of that Northern Soul feel with the driving rhythms. They have a great groove on most of their songs. He has a soulful voice too. In a melancholy way. They sound Northern in the sense of being from Northen England as well don’t they? I always have their song Winter Hill in my head whenever I go hiking up or around Winter Hill, which is often.
Anyway, there you go. I won’t prattle on. Great band. They remind me of a time in my life in my early 30s when I was newly single and went out a lot. I drank a lot. Probably too much, but had a hell of a good time and miss those days sometimes.