You've Got A Lot To Answer For: A Brief Review Of Make Hay Not War – The Blanco Y Negro Years By Catatonia

I suppose I should admit that I came to Catatonia because of Kenickie. Once the Sunderland group broke up, I started to gravitate to theaudience (hence the name of this site!), and someone on a Kenickie message-board from the UK said that I should check out Catatonia. I did. This would have been around the time that "Mulder and Scully" was getting a lot of play over there. It didn't take much to win me over. And thankfully, the output of the band was just as good as that winsome single.

Make Hay Not War – The Blanco Y Negro Years collects everything (I think) the band put out on that label from around 1997/1998 to 2001. This Cherry Red Records set is absolutely essential for anyone who was/is a fan of the voice of Cerys Matthews, or the playing of the guys behind her. Listened to now, this run is remarkably consistent, and for those who fell away after the hits of "Mulder and Scully" and "Road Rage", this should be a revelation of just what you missed.

Way Beyond Blue, their 1996 full-length debut, features Super Furry Animals drummer Dafydd Ieuan. There's a sort of stylistic connection between the bands. Catatonia had a real knack for spacious explorations, like "Infantile", even as their singles ("Lost Cat", "Bleed") had a real punch. On "You've Got a Lot to Answer For", Cerys seems to be finding her place, delivering one of her best performances, and centering herself and her personality amid the players around her. While the subsequent albums were more polished, the flourishes here also provide some of the best showcases for guitarist Mark Roberts as well ("Sweet Catatonia").

International Velvet in 1998 was the big breakthrough for the group. It seems like half of this record is made up of singles. And there's real variety here in style among those. There's the rough "I Am The Mob", the sweeping "Road Rage" with its build-ups, and "Mulder and Scully", with its impossible-to-ignore hook. Even things shoehorned into being singles ("Strange Glue") reveal a dexterity that's still sort of astounding. The breadth of material here is such that even a number that's only there to wave the Welsh flag (the title cut), is more than just a bit of fun. There's not a dud on this whole record and it stands as one of the best releases of the tail-end of the Britpop years. In an era where Oasis were up their own asses, and Pulp feeling like middle-aged burnouts, Catatonia were off pursuing their own unique and wildly melodic passions. International Velvet is a real masterpiece of sorts.

Equally Cursed and Blessed from 1999 has a special place in my heart as it was the first album I bought on my first trip to England. It's a more subdued affair overall than its predecessor, but things like "Storm the Palace" and "Londinium" work up heads of steam. "Dead from the Waist Down" was a rather odd lead single, but it's a good showcase for Cerys Matthews' talents. Still, there's no denying that the album as a whole wasn't as consisent as the prior two releases. Which is a nice way of saying, there were more songs I skipped on this one than the other two.

The final Catatonia album, 2001's Paper Scissors Stone didn't land to as much acclaim, though it's a solid, fairly serious record. It probably didn't help that the album came out just a few weeks before 9/11. Still, "Mother of Misogyny" and "Is Everybody Here on Drugs?" got a lot of play around my parts, as did "Blues Song", one of the group's very best simultaneous showcases for guitarist Mark Roberts and vocalist Cerys Matthews. In retrospect, I think this is a solid record, and maybe even a more consistent one than Equally Cursed and Blessed, though I know that's not a popular opinion.

While the first four discs of Make Hay Not War – The Blanco Y Negro Years cover the four studio albums and assorted tracks from Catatonia, it's the fifth disc that offers up rarities. There are live cuts, remixes, and demos, and all sort of solidify a claim to be made for the greatness of this band. These, combined with the bonus tracks on the other four discs, add to the appeal of this set. As always, Cherry Red Records have offered up something that demands purchase, and even a casual fan of this group's hits, should be tempted to buy this. Consistently operating a bit outside the whole wave of Britpop at the time, and lumped in with Welsh acts that didn't necessarily share their same crowd-pleasing ways, Catatonia were masterful at finding a big tune and delivering it with a whole lot of heart.

So much of the appeal of this group was due to the voice of Cerys Matthews, and a parallel could be made between Catatonia and Cerys and The Pretenders and Chrissie Hynde in a sense. And that's not a slight on Mark Roberts and the rest of the group, mind you. But the reality is that Cerys put her whole heart and personality into this material, and the singles all had big, winning hooks. It was her group the way Blondie was Debbie Harry's, and so on. Thankfully, the melodies from Catatonia were unusually strong, with the musicianship behind them such that every piece of each selection works to create Pop of the highest order. This five-disc box will bring a lot of joy to listeners when it is released this Friday.

Make Hay Not War – The Blanco Y Negro Years by Catatonia is out on Friday via Cherry Red Records.

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