Skinny – Weekend (Cheeky)

The thought of the return of the concept album is certainly scary and brings to mind Pink Floyd, seventies prog-rock and sixty minute guitar solos. But what if the concept was the weekend - with all it's hang-ups, get-downs, highs and lows - and the album was on Rollo's Cheeky label? Bit of a different proposition? The weekend, probably the most important regular occurrence in any reader of this magazine's life, is explored in all it's complexities by Skinny in the most important debut album so far this year. From Friday night to the wind-down zone to the perils of nights out in the big bad city, this is one album that doesn't need track titles of its own, because all the emotions you know and love are dramatically and explicitly explored within. If you need documentary evidence - just take a spin of 'Failure', Skinny's promo sampler from the tail end of '97 that is still ripping it up as the summer of 98 burns in.

Weekend certainly skims a whole raft of styles, but every aspect packs the same production punch. 'Friday Part 1' is the natural follow-on from 'Failure', using a similar double bass groove. More laid back tracks come in the form of 'The Bus Song' and the ambient epic 'London Tonight' (complete with samples from your favourite news show). In fact the only problem with Weekend is nothing new to seventies-style concept albums and that's the unevenness of vocals and vocal styles across the set. But with that as the only complaint, Weekend is a pretty essential album. You had to be there. 9/10


This review also published in: DJ magazine