The Icicle Works – The Icicle Works

ARTIST: The Icicle Works The_Icicle_Works_Debut_Album_Cover

TITLE: The Icicle Works



SINGLES: Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) (#37 US, #18 Mainstream, #53 UK, #2 UK Indie), Love Is a Wonderful Colour (#15 UK),


LINEUP: Ian McNabb, Chris Layhe, Chris Sharrock

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: First album from the arty-and-jangly UK band that delivered hits on both sides of the Atlantic.

 SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Here in the States, the first few ringing lines of “Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)” (yes, Arista retitled it) evokes memories of MTV and how it was possible for something so obscure and so…British could hit the Top 40.

The album, which also included their bigger UK hit “Love Is a Wonderful Colour”, has some of those jangly elements, but also a richer, fuller sound with more production elements filling out the sound. The Icicle Works was more of an arty band upon revelation, instead of a jangle pop band.

While Ian McNabb’s songs can sometimes be ponderous, brooding, and overly serious, the entire record has a whole is somewhat satisfying, as the promise of their early singles comes to fruition at times. 220px-The_Icicle_Works_Debut_Album_Cover-_USA_Version

NOTES & MINUTIAE: Yes, Arista changed the name of the band (to just Icicle Works), altered the single’s title (swapping the parens around), and edited out a portion of their US hit. For the album, they swapped out a song, and changed the cover. And it’s not streaming, probably because of Arista.

IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Yes, with rarities and remixes

 GRADE B: They may have had a better chance in the US had the company followed up with a second single, or at least some support. Anyway, this is better than I thought, though a bit too pretentious at times.

Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s