A veritable pot pouri of insipid musical ideas and performances.

Hmmm. The Reviews Editor was curious about how I would react to this CD but I've a feeling he already knew what my responses would be!

This is apparently the fourth M.I.C. (‘Made In China’) release and if the quality of this one is anything to go by then I've fortunately missed out on the first three. The band has been playing in China since 2004 and have appeared on numerous TV shows as well as being the opening act for various renowned Chinese pop stars, none of whom I'm familiar with. Band leader Yvon Serre (vocals and guitar) has six albums to his credit but they have obviously flown under the radar as well because his name is totally new to me.

I have managed to struggle through 'On All Fours' a grand total of three times and on reflection it is hard to believe I actually played it more than once. The fact that this is an independent release leaves my eyebrows in a horizontal state as any executives out there deeming this worthy of label backing could only be relations of Monsieur Serre. The CD features 11 tracks and I'm sorry to say that in my opinion it is 11 too many. From the writing to the performances and production everything has an amateurish feel, a feel that is only compounded when the disc is played again. Some of the songs ('Chemicals' especially) are just plain awful. The vocals lack any kind of effort or inspiration and that is a very kind criticism. The song structures have no depth or imagination so luckily the flat production values spare us an 'in your face' sound. The only positive I can take away from my time spent listening to 'On All Fours' is that I don't have to do it again.

A veritable pot pouri of insipid musical ideas and performances that makes me grateful I also have the Halestorm CD to listen to this month. 'On All Fours' opening song is called 'Can't Take Anymore'.........couldn't have more significance!

Dave Bott