Luxury, a real luxury.
It’s a luxury that in the days we are saturated by substance-lacking products and karaoke clones we can still find a real rock band out there at the front line. And watch out, because nobody ever gave them anything for free. All they have they have earned by tramping all the stages around the globe, singing their throats out while they energetically played guitar and destroyed drum kits. Dover live is a whirlwind of energy, a convulsion of feelings that can move you right to your core. R-O-C-K with no concessions that is still up there in the charts amongst the most popular faces. Their weapons? They are as simple as effective: excellent three minute songs and winner choruses.
The Dover phenomenon, that great mystery of the late 90's, the most unexpected thing to happed to the Spanish music industry and the most envied from the scary credibility sectors. A Madrid band that insists in singing in English and has sold hundreds of thousands or copies of all their albums. Albums that, even today, still have impressive sales figures in these difficult times of cd-copiers and internet. Their four previous albums, Sister (95), Devil come to me (97), Late at night (99), and I was dead for the 7 weeks in the city of Angels (01) include an impressive collection of great songs. Thanks to being so head strong the have even managed to open up the doors into Europe, where they have also managed some important sales figures and have played in some of the most important festivals.
And now what? Enjoying their great status, the quartet from Madrid have fled from the possibility of a 'greatest hits', live records or other marketing projects. They have once again finished a new record with 12 splendid songs composed during last winter. The recording of I was dead for the 7 weeks in the city of Angels was so complicated and up hill for them that they have unconsciously decided to simplify it all. To begin with, there was no recording in Seattle or Los Angeles. It has all been done at the PKO Studios of Boadilla del Monte (Madrid), a step away from home and the rehearsal studio, although later on it was masterered at the Marcussen Studios in Los Angeles. To produce it, someone they already knew, Rick ‘Soldier’ Will, that mixed their last album and has a impressive career that includes artists like Ben Harper, Incubus, Fear Factory or Ziggy Marley amongst many.
"He is good with sound, he knows how to get the sound we are after. We arrived on the first day and it all sounded great. He wanted us to record the four of us playing at once, totally live, in one go. There were days when we recorded two and three whole songs". And all that makes a difference. A great one. The result is a lot more spontaneous, more concise and natural. The new songs composed by the Llanos sisters don't waste time with arrangements, they concentrate on the verses and perfect melodies. It has all worked out to be easier, transmitting that basic and demolishing sound of their live shows.
There is no doubt that they have created the most positive album of their career. "What we wanted was to capture the moment, to reach a climax so that the final result is more electric than technically perfect". And also... ¿the most pop Dover album? Exactly. The search for twelve excellent songs without any fill in ones has made them concentrate on some real killer choruses, easy to remember. They admit to have listened to a lot of The Beatles in the last months, and they even have a line for Paul McCartney with that quote to a Band on the run in the lyrics of 27 years - apart from being Cristina's age at the moment, it's also the most sincere and personal song -.
This incredible layout of power has turned this album into a selection of perfect singles. The first has been The flame, but it could of been any of the other eleven. The powerful bass line, very like the Beatles in their Hamburg phase, and the familiarity of it's melody, turns it into an instantaneous hit that reminds us of the best and most popular moments of their second album, that made them famous. Even the romantic words to the song sound jolly.
And again, as in earlier songs, King George, or Loli Jackson (and in this album, songs like Mi sombrero), you won't find any connection between the song title and the lyrics. They nearly always choose the title according to how the song sounds to them and by some strange telepathic connection that we haven't really worked out yet.
Other vibrant moments of the new album are My fault, Leave me alone and All my money. The most American song is Honest, with a Tom Petty sort of sound to it, and if this world were a different world, it could even open the doors to the American market for them. Their producer has no problem in admitting that there isn't another rock singer today with the vocal melodies that Cristina can produce. And if there is anyone out there with any doubt about this, listen to Someone else’s bed and try and stop your hairs rising. It's the nudest and most private song on the record, a gem of a song that shows off the most unknown side of Dover. The simplicity and the beauty get you the first time you listen to it. It's strange sound and effects take you back to those old radios when you could hear Billie Holiday classics.
Some of you will be surprised by the shocking title of another of the new songs: Die for r&r. "Rock and roll is really a passion for which I, in some of my lowest moments, could really consider dying for maybe - says Cristina Llanos -. It's about a really mixed up moment".
Again, all the artwork of the covers of the album and single are hers, brandishing her Polaroid camera, she has rescued some of her favourite moments she has lived out with her three companions during the last tour. There is something in those photos that capture what you really notice when you meet them personally: their intact illusions, their energy to go on getting better every time, and their absolute dedication for what they really like doing. Isn’t that admirable these days? Just that.
[javier lorbada]