A classy comeback.

After 17 years in the wilderness, and having never quite met their potential in the mid-90’s (when they should have been breaking into the charts alongside Terrorvision, The Wildhearts and the like), Glasgow’s Baby Chaos are back.  This time around they’re aiming a little bigger than they did 20 years ago.  Evidence? Just try second track Blackbirds, as mass of riffs that build, flit and flirt quite shamelessly, groggy switches of direction and high, dramatic, layered vocals that are more Muse than Muse ever actually manage these days.

There’s a lot of skill going into these songs, an understanding of hooks and pop nous just built for breaking out of the underdog ghetto.  The Whispering of Giants, for one, has the kind of accessible, radio-friendly, soaring chorus built for the unveiling of the new MasterChef champion, only with significantly heftier balls than Kings Of Leon and the usual suspects. Poison Ivy Girls, meanwhile, has the grubby glamour of early Suede. A classy comeback from a band worth revisiting.

Emma Johnston Classic Rock (July 2015) Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory 25/05/2015

A fine rock record indeed

Wherever my eclectic tastes led me in the early 1990’s, Baby Chaos were not on the playlist, so I came to this, the band’s much-postponed third album, without expectations, if less than enticed by the Hell’s Angels iconography and macho title. Never judge a book by its cover, because Chris Gordon and his cohorts, a quartet reunited to continue their adventure have produced a fine rock record indeed, which benefits from Gordon’s years of studio expertise in between and, importantly, takes itself none too seriously.

Their veteran status is explicitly acknowledged in the opening You Can’t Shut Us Up and the anthemic, tongue-in cheek, We Were Youth. The macho swagger of much spandex strut-rock is given a nice post-modern twist in the Poison Ivy Girls couplet “I know it’s not important but/You’re acting like a total slut”, and Have Faith has a lazy chorus of children that recalls Alice Cooper’s School’s Out. A Tingling on Your Bright Skin is fine pop-metal while the close Habibi is altogether heavier stuff. The chances of Kelly Macdonald appearing in their videos these days may have diminished, but Baby Chaos still play the role of middle-class parent-worriers with a fine Glasgow cheek.

See review…

Keith Bruce, Arts Editor Herald Scotland 09/05/2015

With a deluge of sugar-coated riffs, Baby Chaos are back.

The band, like me, is almost 20 years older, but my pleasure hearing these new songs can’t be far off the pleasure they felt writing them and playing together again. Back then, it was “She’s In Pain” and “Hello” that took over the airwaves. Today, although the musical landscape has changed, it’s to “Blackbirds” that you have to look for the inevitable hit. Although all the tracks are good and there are no fillers, this one has something more, an extra hook, a more delicate approach to the melody, more intensity. You can’t help but give in.

Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me the Glory. From behind this somewhat mysterious title emerges the humility and sense of humour of Chris Gordon (songwriter, composer, producer, etc.), the main man but nothing without his band, his friends and his family. His brother has always been his manager, his wife is behind the artwork (the royal eagle much loved up in Scotland, Mogwai won’t tell you otherwise) and his daughter lends her voice to some of the backing vocals.

…It also gives an idea of the atmosphere there must have been when the quarter got back together (at the request of Ginger Wildheart no less!), with pleasure once again the name of the game! Well, that’s how I felt anyway as I listened to these sugar-coated, cheerful, chiselled compositions that fill me, the listener, with so much joy.

[Translated from French by Abi Archer]

Read Full Review (Page 23)

Oli W-FENEC Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory 25/05/2015

Brilliant Power Pop

This is quite an unexpected comeback! Scotland’s BABY CHAOS, are back with all the original members in, and none has a beard! It almost sounds to good to be true.

On this new album, most songs just sound as if there never was 19 years in between this new album and “Love Your Self Abuse.” BABY CHAOS hits hard from the start with an in-your-face “You Can’t Shut Us Up”, and Chris Gordon’s production perfectly fits the band as usual.

Some of these songs can definitely stand next to the band’s best earlier work, just listen to “Have Faith In Yourself”, “Poison Ivy Girls”,”Out Of The Silence”, or “A Tingling On Your Bright Skin”, a brilliant power pop song full of melancholy.
BABY CHAOS‘ fabulous pop melodies and punk energy still mix together in “P P P Peaches”, or in “We Were Youth”, and the band’s taste for experimenting with noisy pop and heavy rock can be found in “Risk and Writhing” and in “Habibi.”

“Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory” makes me realize how much I’ve missed BABY CHAOS, and by chance, it is also the cure for it.

Read full review

by Laurent Veglam Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory 09/05/2015

The riffs are heavier, the melodies even more intoxicating.

As Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory slid into the CD player, my first reaction was to turn up the volume, take a seat and listen intently, captivated. Let’s be clear about something, it’s the same band, with the original line-up, and Chris Gordon (singer/guitarist/main songwriter) has lost nothing of his verve and creativity.

The substance is still pop (some will detect hints of Muse, their fellow countrymen Biffy Clyro, the Killers…), but in the end, what with the impeccable production and the fact that the group has matured, the riffs are heavier, more striking, the rhythm more diligent, the melodies even more intoxicating, tipping the Glaswegians more towards the Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, even Helmet at times (the huge “Risk & Writhing”!).

Walls of sound from the guitars, sometime saturated and overpowering, sometimes bright and enchanting, haunting and adventurous lyrics, and energy, lots and lots of energy. In short a really pleasant surprise that justifies the cult status of their first two albums, left all alone for the last 19 years!

Full review available in Inked #27

[Translated from French by Abi Archer]

Inked Magazine Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory 25/05/2015

If you want to get a rock record this summer, make it this one!

Right from the first track, you are sent back in time 20 years, to a time when rock had a place on national radio, and the melodies of Baby Chaos were bang on target!

“You Can’t Shut Us Up” sets the tone for what is to come, with a catchy chorus, backing vocals, a fast pace, and “Blackbirds” really stands out as the record’s “hit single”. Melodies worthy of the 90s with a modern sound that rocks just as it should and quickly draws you in.

Some bits are so good that they are gone rather quickly. The simplistic, punk rock “P P P Peaches”, “Out Of The Silence” and its choruses that you can’t get out of your head all day long and “A Tingling On Your Bright Skin” and its passage evocative of the Foo Fighters…

I don’t know whether there will be a follow-up to Skulls, Skulls, Skulls, Show Me The Glory, as it seems that Baby Chaos have primarily got back together for fun, but in any case, if you want to get a rock record this summer, make it this one!

Full Review

[Translated from French by Abi Archer]

Pidji Core and Co Skulls, Skulls, Skulls Show Me The Glory 25/05/2015