Dogs – ‘Turn Against This Land’ (Album Sampler/Island Records) Released 21/02/05

If Dogs were a dog they’d be one of those scratty little vicious shits that bites the postman’s leg and needs a good kick up the arse …but at the same time has a rough and roguish charm. This 6-song sampler is the appetizer to Dog’s debut album which will be released later this year.  And although you may feel like you’ve heard it all before by their fellow Londoners and touring partners, Razorlight, you simply can’t deny that this is a veritable knicker-drawer of ferociously catchy songs. Their website’s claim that they are: ‘Lyrically dazzling, like Morrissey in a Weller headlock’ is just fucking stupid – perhaps their publicist needs a kick up the arse as well - but the lyrics are surprisingly tart and memorable and yapped out with a caustic energy.

'Tuned To A Different Station' is relentless driving vivacity; heavy guitars and pounding drums coupled with searing vocals and the words ‘I suffer from a lack of concentration.’ ‘I just can’t seem to concentrate’ being hurled from front-man to backing vocalist like a hot potato. It’s fast, there’s not much chance to stand still , it makes your head bob…you can’t ask for much more.

The intro to ‘She’s Got A Reason’ sounds suspiciously as though we are about to be slipped into ‘Rip It Up’ – except with Dogs front-man Johhny Cooke’s talky cockney tones sounding less like namesake Borrell and more like the late Ian Dury of Blockhead fame.  As Cooke erupts into a fiery rumination on some ill-fated relationship telling us that ‘Oh – I just can’t decide’ and ‘I loved you better when you loved me as well’ – bet you’re visualising that Morrissey/Weller mud wrestle as we speak – the rest of the band jump in vocally to back up their man.

Dogs do sound like a pack of hounds, the camaraderie between them is palpable and bristling – you get the impression if you shit on one – the rest of the mob will be waiting with hackles on end and legs cocked. The rest of this mini-album is of similarly high quality and head-bobbing calibre. No one member of the band ever sounds redundant or unnecessary, there’s always some nifty little guitar rift to listen out for, the drums yell as expressively as the vocals  – and they’re not afraid to slow things down a tad when it’s called for.

'Turn Against This Land': it’s not new – but it is quite clever. There’s a hell of lot packed into these six songs – nothing is scrimped, there’s no lacklustre wadding. Dogs may only be a ratty, leg-humping, cross-bred terrier right now but I’ve no doubt that they’ll be taking on the pit-bulls before long – and coming off pretty well.