All That Glue is a collection of songs spanning the last seven years of the band’s incredible career. It is an array of crowd pleasers (e.g. ‘Jobseeker’, ‘Routine Dean’), B sides, unheard tracks and rarities for fans and the curious. From the Marcel Duchamp inspired artwork (complete with fag ends), to the title, this release is pure Sleaford Mods and is an absolute joy.
One of the unheard tracks is ‘Second’. Released on 18th May, ‘Second’ is a song about not putting one’s self before material ownership. The infamous Fight Club line of “The things you own end up owning you…” comes to mind. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year, Williamson explains about the track “We’d forgotten about it, to be honest, until Andrew found it on his laptop. It was recorded in early 2017 just after the English Tapas session.” And you can see it fitting quite nicely on English Tapas as it shares the tempo and immediacy of ‘Moptop’ and ‘Army Nights’.
Fearn’s drum beats, throbbing bass, effects, mixed with the constant vocal barrage from Williamson is classic Sleaford Mods. It would fit any of their albums to be honest. It’s timeless. The refrain of “I’m in no state. Just a state” is brilliant and is as much a quote fitting of these times, as was the ‘Fight Club’ quote back in the 90s.
In the Robin Lee-directed video, two actresses (Kate Dickie and Emma Stansfield) portray Jason Williamson and Andrew Fearn in the Mods’ early days when they frequently played pubs. The women are pitch-perfect, down to Williamson’s Fred Perry polo shirt and Fearn’s omnipresent beer. It’s a spot on and brilliantly affectionate depiction of the band.
At the time of writing, Sleaford Mods are currently number 10 in the Official Album Charts 2020 with their retrospective album, All That Glue, which was released on May 15 2020 via Rough Trade. This is absolutely mental and is testament to the quality of this band’s output and its loyal fan base. As a massive fan of the band myself, this is incredible news and it is all well deserved. ‘Second’ is a great track. Do yourself a favour and download it as soon as you can.
Review by Ioan Humphreys
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