Liverpool-Hoopla review of Liverpool Sound City git, 26 Oct 99
Downstairs - without even a break for a Newsbeat - and Marine Research are already on stage. A year zero project - for obvious reasons, they're not about to look back at the Heavenly years - and the band have already gathered more classic tunes than some so-called classic songwriters could come up with in three and half major label deals. Over the years from Tallulah Gosh, Amelia Fletcher has developed, and to suggest she hasn't grown up would be to miss the point, because of course she has. She may "wish she was in B*Witched", but the Fletch is now more brittle. The years have taken their toll and while dreaming of a garden "with flowers, not mud in," its with an acceptance that it'll probably never happen - "but I like the make believe." Music for the stage in your life when you've taken on the world, and don't quite want to admit that the world has won, delivered with smiles and warmth. Like being out for a drink with your friends. Simon Budgen
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Freebase review of HQ Club gig, 23 Oct 99
It would be harder to find a more modern, glamorous and multi-faceted powerhouse of pop perfection than Marine Research. With a depth and complexity lacking in less ambitious groups, they wipe the floor with all the competition as easily live as they do in the studio. By ambition I'm not saying that the five people on stage tonight are using their chords and melodies as some form of superannuation scheme that will pay for the winters of their twilight years to be spent on the Costa Del wherever. That would be way too small-minded, and the combined minds of Marine Research are huge, matched only by the dimensions of their hearts. Their ambition is to create something much huger than what is proffered by most other groups. Something that transcends the banality of music media mindset and corporate limitations. Something that reaches way, way beyond the beginnings and endings of the sumptuous pop songs performed here tonight. And once again those ambitions are ascended with ease - this time in brand new skirts (Cathy's is silver, Amelia's sub-sleeping bag quilted) where others would need heavy duty climbing gear and oxygen masks and still pass out nowhere near the summit.
All the truly influential pop groups from The Beatles through The Clash and The Smith create more than their sound and the frocks they wear; they create a world that is as specific as it is intangible and that is where the special magic lies. What is Marine Research's world? Hmmm, well no travel brochure descriptions here, but it is a world that when lived in that makes it listeners feel inspirational, powerful and ready to take on anyone in a fight. Because even though there aren't too many steel tipped toecaps on stage, it's easy to see that Marine Research are harder than the rest. Stealth killers though.
It's hard to pick out any song in particular from this evening's show. Every song could be a single with ease, every lyric worth quoting, and played with a largesse, confidence and charm that you would expect of the (soon to be) nation's favourites. The word epic is used too often, too blithely, and any arse knows that epic without instant is usually pompous. This however is instant and epic and something to treasure. While the likes of Stereolab, Girls at out Best, Blondie and 60s girl groups have been mentioned while trying to locate the grid references for Marine Research, the overall effect is actually much harder to define. The wit is reminiscent of The Smiths and the brazen intent has more to do with the peaks of punk rock. And when the police turn up and chuck us all out on the street and rumours of a bomb scare spread through the beer bottle clutching crowds, some of us know better. Marine Research are considered dangerous. Enemies of the bland, fighters for fantasticness, an army of impassioned souls with music so good it's lethal - no wonder they're rounding up anyone paying attention. The results could be international. Johnny Johnson
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Melody Maker review of Camden Falcon gig, 29 July 99
THERE are a million reasons to love Marine Research. Here are some of them. Firstly, they make irresistible, enormous pop songs. After thirteen years of trying to write the perfect pop song, singer Amelia Fletcher has gone and done it with current single, "Parallel Horizontal". It's got hand claps, it rhymes "toothy" with "goofy" and it rings joyously in your ears forever. It makes you dance and it makes you grin and if you know of a better POP! single this year, feel free to let us know.
Secondly, they believe in the magic of music, in the way it can pick you up and make you sparkle. Like the candy-floss punk-rock of "Hopefulness to Hopelessness", with its wide-eyed wonder, its excitable ambition and its head in the clouds. Thirdly, the band are so obviously head-over-heels in love with being in Marine Research that it's infectious. Their drummer moonlights as DJ Downfall but wants to be in a great band. Cathy the keyboardist is a TV presenter (Channel 4's "Scrapheap", since you ask) but gets her thrills harmonising. All five of them know they're making great music and you can see them enjoying it.
Fourthly, they are so un-rock'n'roll it's really cool. They bounce around, they're pure pop, they know that a well-timed melodica solo beats a gratuitous axe lick every night and they can hardly contain their excitement. No clichés and no tired old rock.
Fifthly, they're f***ing brilliant. Ben Clancy
NME review of Camden Falcon gig, 29 July 99
Let's get one thing clear from the start. Marine Research, ex-Heavenly and Tallulah Gosh, are not twee, not even slightly. With their deft skill for classic songwriting touches, their ease with timeless girl-group choruses, they are perfect, and they are pop.
But they aren't 'perfect-pop', that most fragile, elusive genre wizened old crones clutch close to their hearts. Marine Research are too brash, too robust, too alive to be anything so tedious. The gorgeous wistfulness of 'Hopefulness To Hopelessness' might smack of a zillion Gold FM moments, but Marine Research's gusty delivery is refreshingly free of kid-gloves preciousness.
Those cheekbones. The jet-black eyebrows. That seething snarl. There's no mistaking the Spencer genes in Brassy's singer/guitarist Muffin. But Brassy won't be in the Blues Explosion's shadow for long so compulsive is their bionic punk-funk. Brassy are Elastica sharing a sloppy tongue-kiss with the Beasties, faultless new-wave pop sensibilities hotwired by dusted, blunted hip-hop. When recent single 'Good Times' slips into some white-hot D&B breakdowns, when drummer Jonny dishes out some between-song turntablism, you realise Brassy couldn't have existed any time before NOW. And each song hits the spot so perfectly, so naturally you'd think all pop music was meant for dancing.
But the kids are here for Venini. And Venini ain't music for dancing to, they are music to wear second-hand polyester shirts to. Famously, they are Russell from Pulp's newest venture. And they misfire on almost every count. Vampish singer Debbie Lime sneers, "Dress me up in Gucci" (stop sniggering), before lurching stiffly into some clumsily-choreographed 'dirty dancing'. Like their stultified, grisly indie-rock, like their tragically inept lyrics, it's no doubt meant to be sophisticated, sexy. In reality, it's shabby, seedy and not a little sad. Maybe it'll sell in Camden. But Brassy and Marine Research have their sights trained on the world. Stevie Chick
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Village Voice review of New York Fez gig, 4 July 99
Heaven Sent
"I want to get my hair cut just like Jean Seberg," sang Amelia Fletcher of Marine Research, on the New York stop of a tour in advance of their first album, Sounds From the Gulf Stream. Such winsome sentiment was hardly surprising from a band four-fifths ex-Heavenly, the English indie-pop veterans whose devoted stateside following (barrettes and Pastels badges at the ready) turned out in droves, unsure of what to expect. Marine Research opening for Fugazi in London- could so much really have changed round Amelia & co.'s way? No, as it turned out. Headlining the Fourth of July indie weekender at Fez, Marine Research unveiled a sparer, less frantic sound- see "End of the Affair" (preceded by an exhortation to dance the bossa nova, "if anyone knows how")- while retaining Heavenly's trademark girl-group vocals and sunshiny pop nous. Most enthusiastically received were the Jean Seberg tune, a/k/a "Hopefulness to Hopelessness," an anthem for aging Belle and Sebastian fans everywhere ("A million things I am unlikely ever to carry out/But I like the make-believe") saved from twee overload by its triumphant chorus, and storming single "Parallel Horizontal," replete with hand claps, tambourine, and New Order-ish guitar.
In sparkly miniskirts, keyboard bedecked with cartoon fish, the group seemed to relish its new incarnation, Amelia shimmying intently then chatting to the audience. "This is the only one of our songs you could vaguely pogo to," she joked before launching into a sprightly encore of "Venn Diagram." But the more fitting closer would've been "At the Lost and Found," about bonding instantly with a stranger who resembles the singer's dead friend. The song surges through achingly sweet harmonies before dropping down to the ghostly refrain "Lost you/Found you." Heavenly fans might say the same. J. Yeh
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indiePOPradio.com review of Yoyoagogo gig, Olympia, 16th July 99
It was probably no secret to anyone around me today that I was about to wet myself with excitement about the prospect of seeing Marine Research. I never actually saw a Heavenly show, so I've felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to see Amelia and the gang (Cathy, Peter, and Rob, all from Heavenly, and new drummer, DJ). The anticipation was heightened by the fact that I've heard their upcoming album, "Songs From The Gulf Stream," and think it's brilliant.
I can say with confidence that I was not disappointed, despite my high expectations, and that they were perhaps even exceeded. Amelia's voice in harmony with Cathy's is truly a beautiful thing to behold, and Peter plays some of the best pop guitar I've ever heard. It's hard for me to point a finger at any kind of weak link -- it all fit perfectly.
Before playing "Hopefullness To Hopelessness" Amelia did something she termed as "crass," and dedicated the song to her late brother, whose suicide closed the chapter on Heavenly. She explained that Olympia had always been a special place for him, and promised she would never do another dedication like that again. Her sincerity was moving, as were the lyrics of the song, which took on even more weight then they might have: "A million reasons for wanting to carry on living to achieve/ A million things I am unlikely ever to carry out/ But I like the make believe."
Their set was simply amazing, but what's even more amazing to me is that I will get to see them at least once more in Portland Monday, maybe twice if I can make the in-store they're playing in the late afternoon (4PM at The Ozone, I believe). Please do yourself a huge favor and see them if they come to your town.
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