The underrated band “Longview” drifts into the wilderness.
One of the most underrated bands of all time is Britain’s indie band Longview released their only album in July 2003, and who can forget their memorable songs reminding me of hot summer evenings walking along the beach.
The band formed in Manchester back in 2002, before signing to 14th Floor recordings before releasing what was to be their first and final album “Mercury”.
Mercury hit number 45 in the UK charts, and several singles were released from the album, including the best-known song “Further”, which also featured on One Tree Hill and in commercials for the US Open.
The band re-released their album “Mercury” in 2005, and it got to number 29 in the UK charts. 2005 also saw electronic German record producer Ulrich Schnauss join the band, but he later left in 2010 to concentrate on other projects.
By 2007, the band’s drummer, Matt Dabbs had also left the band for family reasons.
The band could have been Britain’s answer to the next Blur or Oasis and worked on lots of material for what should have been their second album, but nothing came of this and fans were left disappointed.
The band finally called it a day and went their separate ways in 2015, but many of us who are old enough to remember the band will always be wondering what could have been?
Former singer and lead guitarist Rob McVey is now a soloist and is currently working on his first-ever solo album, and he has also joined a band called “Paradise”. “Paradise” also features Sivert Høyem from the 90s Norweigan rock band “Madrugada”, Simeone Butler, who is the bass player of “Primal Scream,” and Rob Ellis, a producer, arranger, instrumentalist and composer. He is best known for his work with PJ Harvey.
I recently managed to get a copy of the album “Mercury” on CD for £4.99, which also included a bonus remix CD. Y prefer the original CD to the remix, but it was great to turn back time and listen to some of my favourite Longview tracks and listen to the less popular songs on the album.
My favourite tracks include; “Further” because this reminds me of One Tree Hill which was one of my favourite television programmes until it finished in 2012, “Can’t Explain”, “When I sleep” and “Falling for you”.
Despite a BBC review claiming that “Mercury” was a disappointment with poor lyrics, I think we need more guitar bands like this and the lyrics may be short and simple but together with some catchy melodic riffs and female vocals on some tracks.
Longview made a great start to what should have set them up for a long music career, only for them to be known as a one-track band for “Further”, which is the best known due to television advertising.
This album is well worth buying and listening to.
I’m currently playing this album in my car, and even my mum liked it and was asking about them. It’s not too heavy and not too slow and is great to listen to while driving.
4 stars out of 5
