"so far away"Year: 1980
Country: UK
City: London
Label: Universal
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 36 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Mod Punk
THE CHORDS are a 1978 british pop punk music group, commonly
associated with the 79 mod revival, who had several hits
in their homeland, before the decline of the trend brought about their
break-up. They were one of the more successful groups to emerge during
the revival, and they re-formed with the four original members for a UK
tour during 2010. At the beggining they supported concert to The Jam and
Sham 69, and they did always some covers from the 60s decade such as:
The Who, Small Faces or The Kinks. In
later years, the Chords were often cursorily dismissed as little more
than Jam copyists, and while there's no denying that the two groups
traveled in very similar musical waters, both drawing from the British
beat and Northern soul that filled their youths and sending it soaring
through the prism of punk, it's there that the comparisons end. While
Paul Weller coyly played footsy with both the punk and mod scenes,
refusing to commit to either, there was no doubt that his soul lay with
the latter, and regardless of the trio's aggressive punk-fueled
delivery, his lyrics lacked punk's burning fury. Regardless of the class
warfare related in "Eton Rifles," the racism reflected in "Down in the
Tube Station," or the alienation of "Strange Town," no matter his
country's evident flaws (and Weller etched them vividly), he still
couldn't shake his love of his homeland and optimistic hope that her
problems would eventually be solved. Guitarist and songwriter Chris Pope
refused to see the world through the Jam's English rose-colored
glasses, turning his own equally eloquent pen to scathing vignettes
virtually the flip of Weller's own. In this respect, the Jam comparisons
are red herrings, for if anything, Pope played the snottier, rebellious
younger brother to Weller's more respectful good son.
