This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“Make no mistake,” growls Hugh Dillon, “the hands of time are slowly squeezing the life out of me.” You coulda fooled us, boyo.
After more than a decade together, Hugh and his long-serving Headstones don’t seem to have aged a bit on their fifth album The Oracle Of Hi-Fi. Like always, the band crank up the Marshalls, put their heads down and rock out like a punkier, chunkier version of The Rolling Stones, while Hugh shrugs into his leather jacket and gravely barks his lyrics like the bastard son of Mick Jagger, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and Joey Ramone. Like always, these 11 tracks are no-frills, four-chord guitar-rock juggernauts with sharp hooks and killer choruses to balance dark-hearted, fatalist titles like Whatchagonnado, Reframed (Every Single Failure), Nothing Changes and She Just Wants To Cry. And like always, the ’Stones unvarnished grit and ramshackle rambunctiousness guarantee a good time is had by all. Except maybe Hugh.
