VHS Or Beta– ‘Night on Fire' (Astralwerks) Released 11/04/05

Step back in time step up in talent and hit the floor with a funked up rock sound that gives you big hair, new romantics, and guitar work extraordinaire. VHS Or Beta are all about being able to move n’ groove to a sound that like the bands name is a cross of the same format. Namely, excellent music. ‘Night On Fire’ is an album of blended sound that will have many people enjoying this effervescent explosion of disco rock.

The title track kick starts proceedings and although it must be said that it is very disco it has something lurking in its soul that just makes you want to carry on listening. This transfers through to the next number ‘You Got Me’ and the difference between the two is negligible. Interested? Well go back and start again. This album is about a progression of style and music. A massive firework display of electronic instrumental mastery is thrown at you in ‘Nightwaves’. These guys display their talent with confidence and in a way that is like the dance of the seven veils, only here the more they reveal the more you realise that there is a greater depth to them.

Once you are in to ‘Forever’ the musicianship on display is irresistible and you are gonna’ move to this whether you want to or not. This is the kind of number you would listen too as a prelude to going out to see these guys perform. You can’t dance and head bang at the same time but you can try. There is more and more depth shown as the numbers tick by, with Alive giving a harder vocal edge and the quality increases. In ‘Dynamise’, with its fabulous opening proving that variety is the spice of life. The band wind this album up with a number that has a Pink Floyd like beginning that moves more into the psychedelia as it progresses. This is a truly moving piece.

‘Heavy’ is not a tag you could hang on this album, but sheer enjoyment is one that could be put in capital letters. VHS Or Beta won’t be to everyone’s taste but this is a band that should be heard because they offer up something different and have the confidence to do so.  An album that if you don’t have it, you will probably hear somewhere a couple of times and then think, ‘Why didn’t I?’