When it comes to being prolific, few bands rival The Wildhearts’ ability to continually put out singles, albums and EPs. Hot on the heels of their latest release Chutzpah! comes a tour-only CD loaded with eight bonus tracks from the same sessions. Anyone who has followed the Hearts’ extensive release of singles will be well aware that the B-sides and unreleased tracks from their albums are not a result of a lack of quality, with some of the band’s best and most famous tracks never seeing release on an album. In this case, the B-sides that compose Chutzpah! Jnr are no different. Cuts like ‘The Snake, The Lion, The Monkey and The Spider’ and ‘All That Zen’ are as good as anything on Chutzpah!, boasting thumping riffs, slick production and hooks galore. Unsurprisingly, everything has quite a similar style to the ‘father CD’ of Chutpzah!, the main exception being ‘Vernix’ which seems to be an identity crisis in musical form (and is possibly this compilation’s only dip due its very mish-mashed stylings). However, tracks such as ‘Under The Waves’ are amongst some of song-writer Ginger’s best, boasting an ethereal and restrained quality rare to most Wildhearts tracks.
If this release had two or three more tracks, it would certainly be worthy of being the next Wildhearts album. However, only being around 26 minutes, it makes a nice little collectible bonus for those able to pick it up.
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