Reverend & The Makers – The State of Things
The Guardian’s review said
‘Jon McClure is the self-aggrandising, Sheffield-bred Reverend, and with his backing group, the Makers, he works through the same poetry of beers, blokes and birds as the Arctic Monkeys (Alex Turner even contributes vocals to the chorus of The Machine). Yet McClure has also tapped into the Steel City’s hard-edged electro heritage, filling the album with the kind of gritty electric pulses that make the swaggering Heavyweight Champion Of The World, The State Of Things and the laid-back strut of Sundown On The Empire so vital. Things may go awry on He Said He Loved Me, where comedy Essex girls cheep-cheep the grating refrain, but as an updated take on the Specials’ equal disgust and infatuation with urban life, it’s impressive’
Add to this a great live show and that says it all
