Manchester psychedelic power pop veterans The Speed Of Sound can't help feeling being duped by a future that never happened. Where are the mono rails, space travel, peace? "We were offered Star Trek, but they fed us Soylent Green", the very first line of opener Tomorrow's World is a both a battle cry and setting the tone for two seamless sets of song suites that take up one side each of Museum Of Tomorrow, a retro-futuristic concept album, bursting at the seams with hooks, ace melodies, and lyrical wizardry. It is a soundtrack for a dystopian movie that tries to chase away the darkness with kaleidoscopic gusto, both in pastel and Technicolor.
The Speed Of Sound can make a visit to the Shadow Factory an enticing prospect. Drugs offer only a short reprieve (Opium Eyes) from the horrors of living in the Zombie Century. John Armstrong, the band's songwriter, has found a way to set the post-apocalyptic imagery of writers like John Wyndham to music. The dreams of a better future have become nightmares, but somewhere hope is still on display, waiting to be reappraised and rekindled.
The Speed Of Sound:
John Armstrong: guitars, vocals
Ann-Marie Crowley: vocals, guitars
Kevin Roache: bass
John Broadhurst: drums
Museum Of Tomorrow is released via BE Records and Big Stir Records (vinyl, CD, digital).
Tracks:- Tomorrow's World
- Opium Eyes
- Smokescreen
- Zombie Century
- Wired And Tired
- Virtual Reality (Part 2)
- Shadow Factory
- Impossible Past
- Leaf Blower
- Blood Sweat And Tears
- Charlotte
- The Day The Earth Caught Fire
- Last Orders
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