The Glitterati - Are You One Of Us

Paul Gautrey - Vocals
John Emsley – Lead Guitar
Billy James - Drums
Baz Morrison - Bass
Gaff – Rhythm Guitar

5 years we’ve waited, and it’s been a long hard slog for the lads from Leeds. “Are You One Of Us” seems to have split the music journalists / critics right down the middle, with some berating it, and some loving it. The Glitterati aren’t looking to be at the forefront of some new avant garde type of music, they just want to unashamedly play decent rock, with them citing 80’s rock legends such as Guns and Roses as being amongst their infleunces, and we certainly can’t fault them for that. They’ve gone for a “harder grittier” edge this time round with their new lineup, but they’re not just copying their influences.

So if they don’t sound like Guns ‘n’ Roses ripoffs what do they sound like? Well yes, there are moments of Velvet Revolver such as “Your Idea”, but for the most part there are elements of The Wildhearts and Terrorvision that just sweep you along in the moment. “Are You One Of Us” isn’t going to make you sit down and ponder the inadequacies of life to the nth degree, and that’s not what the album is supposed to do, but it will most certainly stop the shoe gazing and have you bouncing along.

Gautrey’s vocals have also come in for some much unwarranted flak from some critics too. If I wanted to hear Westlife, I’d go and buy their album, if I wanted some over processed soundalike anodyne wall paper music, where it’s there just to cover up the background, then I can watch X Factor and revel in the indelible blank that they’ll undoubtedly leave on my mind. Granted, I’m not so keen on some of the lines of the second track “F*** s Me Up”, but you know that what you get on the album is exactly what you’ll get in a live show, and I rather like the sometimes edgy quality.

“Are You One Of Us” is a nicely balanced album, with some out and out air punching riff driven rock moments such as “Right From The Start” and “Fight Fight Fight”, counter pointed nicely by the likes of “Shanty”.

When we interviewed The Glitterati at Rock City a while back, you couldn’t have hoped to have met a nicer group of lads, who quite frankly, you end up just willing them to succeed. They’ve not had it easy, and they’ve had their fill of false promises and the superstardom machine’s fickle choices of who’s in and who’s out, and some of that you’ll find nestled in this album if you like your songs to have that “bit of a point / meaning" to them. Behind the scenes, they’re down to earth, honest, hardworking, and on stage and their albums they have a professional hard hitting cocky swagger which makes a change from some of the other bands out there who have those the wrong way round!

“Are You One Of Us”? Count us in !!