British Sea Power
Do You Like Rock Music? [15th Anniversary Edition]
ROUGH TRADE
When British Sea Power dropped the first word of their moniker in August 2021, they erased the image of themselves as a tongue-in-cheek group—a sensibility established on their 2003 debut, The Decline of British Sea Power. With Brexit having taken place the year before, the band led by mononymous singer/bassist/guitarist Hamilton attributed the titular tweak to “isolationist, antagonistic nationalism” that publicly reared its head when Great Britain decided to peel off from the European Union. Turmoil continues to exhibit itself across the region, with Europeans loathing Brits even more than Americans. Remember what it was like under the G.W. Bush regime?
Ah, the crappy old days. Let’s not confuse the nostalgia trend with a desire to replicate all the mistakes of the past—more rampant discrimination, a lack of empathy, and inescapable irony, in particular. Just because musicians and record labels are celebrating yesteryear with anniversary album reissues and comeback tours, that doesn’t mean they’re endorsing every aspect of yore. They’re just trying to remind us of previous accomplishments that are often overlooked in the era of social media and cultural disenchantment. And, of course, because there’s money to be made in operating a time machine.
Sea Power and their erstwhile label Rough Trade give consumers plenty of bang for their buck with Do You Like Rock Music?’s 15th anniversary edition. The remastered 12-track album, which established the band as crowd-rousing colleagues of The Frames or even The Pogues, is rounded out with six B-sides, a few BBC live recordings, and another session track. Indeed, the charming in-studio chatter and off-tune notes that accompany two of the radio cuts—“No Lucifer” and “A Trip Out”—fully transport the listener to the past, and not for just a brief moment. The bonus tracks paint a fuller picture of Do You Like Rock Music?, especially “Everybody Must Be Saved,” a key addition to the record and a song in which Hamilton drops the titular “rock music” term. Meanwhile, jammy cuts “Total Confusion” and “Elizabeth & Susan Meet the Pelican” are long, rough-sounding voyages that would’ve taken the steam out of the proper album’s final and fitting song, “We Close Our Eyes.”
Sea Power don’t appear to be playing that song (or any of the B-sides) as part of a series of concerts they’re staging in support of the Do You Like Rock Music? reissue (the band is pleasing crowds with a hits-laden encore set instead). Nonetheless, the shows—happening two years after their last studio record and first in five years, Everything Was Forever—indicate that the band approved of Rough Trade’s re-release of Do You Like Rock Music? and that the quartet haven’t lost any of their oomph. After all, despite the band’s name change, “Power” is still in it.
