Three Colours Red - 'If You Ain’t Got A Weapon, A Creation Anthology' (Castle Music) Released 25/04/05

It’s been a long time coming… Always under-appreciated in their original incarnation, unfairly tagged as the 'Baby-Wildhearts' and generally ignored by the press. Whether it was because of their straight forward delivery, or the honesty of their writing as non-personalities (that’s not an insult, it gets tiresome when people try to live up to this rock ‘n’ roll image whilst creating bland copies of something that was once pretty exciting). The band released two amazing albums; all jagged power chords, incisive riffs, searing vocals and familiar melodies. The songs were direct, and hard to let go off. Which made their surprise split even harder to deal with. The band had finally enjoyed chart success with their Top Ten single, "Beautiful Day" and a sold out tour and promising positioning on festival dates. Those in the know had seen the signs early on, personality clashes within the band (especially between socialite McCormack and the shy and retiring Vuckovic) and differences in musical direction were becoming impossible to ignore.

Their penultimate gig at the Reading Festival was not only emotional and moving due to their songs, but mainly due to the circumstances that surrounded the show. Legend has it that after their final gig, all they found in their dressing room after the show was a hand written sign on the door saying "Would the last one in Three Colours Red please turn off the light…" A poetic end to a band who had brought a real sense of honesty to rock music.

When the band reunited for a sold out tour and top notch album (The brilliant ‘Union Of Souls’ album) it seemed fitting that perhaps the two previous albums maybe re-released with an assortment of extras, but an Anthology set after just two albums seems a little bizarre. Thinking of it logically though, except for the Wildhearts and maybe Terrorvision, Three Colours Red had the best sugar coated, adrenalin pumping tunes on the planet, taking the pub rock style of Sugar and throwing in The Clash’s attitude and U2’s soaring cinematic emotiveness. The hits (‘This Is My Hollywood’, ‘Pure’, Nuclear Holiday’, ‘Beautiful Day’, ’Sixty Mile Smile’, ‘Paralyse’) nestle alongside classic album tracks (‘Fit Boy & Faint Girl’, ‘Age Of Madness’, ‘Pirouette’, ‘Song On The Radio’, ‘Paranoid People’, ‘Sunny In England’) as well as a smattering of live tracks, radio sessions and b-sides. The best maybe yet to come, but this is quite an awesome reminder of how special this band can be.