Razorlight 'Wire To Wire'

Chart Peak: 5
YouTube

Johnny, Andy, Carl and Bjorn, A.K.A. Razorlight, released their third album Slipway Fires in early November 2008... The first single from the album, the emotional piano-led 'Wire To Wire', reached No.5 in the UK chart in October 2008 and became their 9th Top 40 hit

Their ninth and also their last: the follow-up single failed to trouble the Top 200. I can't remember offhand what it was called but I do remember Johnny Borrell singing "You say you've been born again since you slept in the lion's den," so no wonder it put people off.

Off the back of the huge success of the Razorlight album and the Number One single 'America', Johnny Borrell's ego was going stratospheric at this point, repulsing as many as it attracted. Dare I say there were some people hoping to see them crash and burn at this point, and that I might even have been one of them? 'Wire To Wire' was a surprising choice of comeback - not the sort of obvious hit a record label might have mandated from a less confident act, but also not the sort of wilfully endless multipart epic you might have feared at this juncture. In fact it's a fairly modest piece of music, running less than three minutes and quite understated in arrangement. It's actually rather effective because it keeps you waiting for a big show-off moment that never happens, and is very well arranged around the main piano part, which is also very well recorded. It's a pity that Borrell's vocal spoils it with that distinctive tone of a man who thinks he's a much better singer than he is, and whose voice simply doesn't suit the tone or style of the song. It also attracts attention to pretentious lyrics like "She lives on Disillusion Row/We go where the wild blood flows" - notice the Bob Dylan reference in there for extra self-importance.

The band effectively split after this: drummer and co-writer left in early 2009, and the other members departed in 2010. Borrell toured with an all-new line-up for a couple of years, then put the group on "hiatus" to release a solo album which infamously sold only 594 copies in its first week of release. As a result of the backlash, I hadn't heard this song for nearly four years and I must admit it was much more pleasant to come back to than I expected. I don't especially recommend the video though, unless you want to see lots of close-ups of Borrell with his shirt open.

Also appearing on: Now 58, 61, 64, 65, 66
Available on: Slipway Fires

Razorlight 'Before I Fall To Pieces'

Chart Peak: 17

YouTube

'Before I Fall To Pieces' was the 3rd single release from Razorlight's self-titled album - it was co-written with front man Johnny Borrell and new-boy drummer Andy Burrows... Their eponymous album was one of the biggest selling in the UK in 2006, it ended the year at No. 6 in the Top Ten of the year's biggest selling albums.

Informative as that note is, it doesn't seem dripping with enthusiasm somehow. It feels a long time ago now that Johnny Borrell was so famous we had to get used to the sight of him in skintight jeans and no shirt. Bit of  a shock to the system seeing that again in the video, even if it's intercut with Guy Pearce dressed as obscure cable-TV superhero The Flash. Anyway, back in 2006-7 Borrell and "chums" had become one of the few acts of that era to follow a successful debut album with an even more successful second, despite the lazy title and poor production (from Chris Thomas, who really should know better). This live favourite doesn't convey all the excitement the band were reputed for at the time, and although it's probably quite catchy (hard to tell considering how much it got played at the time) it tends, like so much of their work, to turn into a vehicle for Borrell's rockstar posturing and Geldof-like vocal. It's still got enough energy to save it from the worst excesses of his ego, but it's not a record I've ever been able to like.

Echoing the Snow Patrol story in yesterday's post, a further two singles were extracted from the album and get plenty of publicity without making the Top 40, but it couldn't go on forever. A third album was a significant flop and this line-up fell apart. Borrell has since hired a new set of Razorlights but little has been heard from them since.


Also appearing on: Now 58, 61, 64, 65, 71
Available on: Top Gear 'Full Throttle' [Explicit]