Cloudcuckooland Review – Q Magazine 1990

The Lightning Seeds are not, as you might imagine, an obscure American garage band from Buttclench, Indiana, but the pop brainchild of Scouse wunderkind Ian Broudie (he of the almost legendary Liverpool groups Care and Original Mirrors). Possibly better known for his production work with Wah!, Echo And The Bunnymen and lcicle Works, Broudie’s first solo LP is an understated affair packed full of gentle semi-precious pop songs. Echoing the plaintive and highly unfashionable tones of bedsit balladeer Al Stewart, Broudie’s voice wafts angelically through the LP, counterpointed by a collection of neat and massively hummable songs, sometimes reminiscent of New Order’s surefire melodic touch. Aside from the energised percussive blast of Love Explosion, the delicately textured love song Joy and the effervescent pop of Pure, the finest cut is the beautiful and quietly despairing ballad Bound In A Nutshell, which mourns the disenfranchised and put-upon city of Liverpool, yearning for its regeneration through a breath of life to make our engines roar.

Q Magazine – Rating: 3 out of 5