Shame (19) – Drunk Tank Pink

Like the person said below, this is horribly mixed. The music sounds flat and lifeless. Such a shame bc this album is killer. On the plus side, it’s clean and noise-free. Hoping for a remaster soon

I have hope again in 2021 for many reasons, but mostly because of rock music. After the drought of good rock records that was 2020, we've gotten two great rock albums within the first few weeks of 2021 already. Last week there was Viagra Boys' interesting new second album, and now shame are offering their sophomore LP, teased by four very promising singles.

'Alphabet', 'Nigel Hitter', 'Water in the Well' and 'Snow Day' were a collection of boisterous, percussive and versatile songs. 'Snow Day' for example, a track which dramatically introduces multiple structural changes within its five minute run time. It's a stylistic choice we see again on some of the new songs, like 'Born in Luton', which deploys a slackening change in beat for its hook, banishing the erratic guitar and percussion of the verses. 'March Day' then takes it back to the upbeat fun of 'Nigel Hitter' or 'Water in the Well, a couple of songs that offer an unusual go-getting use of percussion for this type of post punk infused rock. It works out very well though and lends the tracks a welcome zappiness.

The second half of the album starts with 'Human, for a Minute', a song that takes it down for a more dark and thoughtful soft rock sound, with Charlie Steen entrusting to a significant other that before their arrival he "never felt human", but that he's still just "half the man" that he should be. 'Great Dog' and '6/1' are quick ragers that will get the moshpits going, the latter merging nicely into 'Harsh Degrees', which is carried by a feisty synth bass. shame then end 'Drunk Tank Pink' with a paragon of an album closer. In this record's context, 'Station Wagon' is a rather slow burner, though driven by continuous bass eights. Halfway through, those turn into piano eights. Steen starts monologuing over them as they're joined by bass, as well as guitar and drums that get increasingly heavy. With one minute left, the track mutates into an ecstatic cloud of fuzzy guitars and wild drumming. What an ending.

With great production (guitars!), slower moments and careful detail to percussion, this isn't your classic, dirty UK garage rock album. But that's what makes it one of the most promising rock album of the year so far. 'Drunk Tank Pink' delivers a fair share of sweaty head banger tracks, combined with songs that go into a more thought-through direction, musically and lyrically. Especially when it comes to the production, shame made much progress with this album, introducing an interesting percussiveness to the post punk idea. This is definitely my favorite new album of the year so far.

Favorite tracks: Water in the Well, Human for a Minute, Nigel Hitter, Alphabet, Born in Luton

Anyone have a copy of this in the US? If so, give me a shout.

Very minimalistic for a 'Deluxe Edition'. It is missing all the artwork from the original edition. Gatefold is just black with pink letters and lyrics. As for the vinyl, sounds decent.

What an album. The musical mastery is no question here. If it comes to quality of this LP pressing: no issues. Whole spectrum of sound of each song is presented with full furiously and vigor. Made to be enjoyed on vinyl. Spread artwork with lyrics inside is a nice addition to it all. Really well done. And the galaxy color looks really out of this world.

My pressing it's ok but there's something gone wrong probably in the final mix: it appears a flat sound and lacks any dynamics in the loudest songs. This kind of music needs high volumes but the result is an annoying greyness in which a part of their greatness is lost. The feeling is that of having to constantly change the equalization of the system as in '''6/1'' just before and after a fantastic wall of guitars.. I'm not a sound engineering and I may have said nonsense but my impression is that the sound of the record did not come out entirely as the band would have liked

This press is so much bad! It should be mid-priced ..

My copy is not noisy with clicks or pops, but is still one of the worst sounding pressings I own. Something is wrong with the highs. It sounds like there is some serious excitement/drive on everything from like 4k to 10k (at least) and what's below 4k is indistinct and totally drowned out by the highs. I can't imagine how this could be an individual copy isolated pressing-stage issue. It sounds more like a mastering/lacquer issue but I am not familiar with all of the things that can go wrong when manufacturing vinyl. Does anyone else have a copy that has distortion on the highs?

I have a personally signed copy, "To Max, do NOT list this on Discogs. We WILL find you. Love shame x"

my pressing is good except for a ticking on the run in on side 2. great album