Half Rock, Half Dance
There are three main things that initially strike you about Goose. One is of course their name, either they have a love for a certain variety of bird or they have seen Top Gun just once too often and are paying homage to the guy that dies. Secondly, the band comes from the musical desert of the world, Belgium, a country not exactly renowned for its influential music acts. And finally, here we have a band all nicely packaged and waiting for the Nu-Rave tag to be harpooned on them at any given point. Yes, Goose do what many deem as unimaginable and blend a dance mentality with chunky lumps of filthy rock to create a boulder of filthy electro sleaze rock that will have you head banging whilst dashing off to the nearest disco.
Sounds great doesn't it? The only problem is Goose too seem a tad split and whilst half of their songs come across as Kasabian doing T-Rex to a dance beat, some tracks simply fall into the Euro Dance category, reminiscent more or a drunken night in a German discotechque than the electro sleaze rock they do so well. One such song that falls into the latter category is 'Black Groves', which kicks off with a scratchy whirr before going full out with some electro beats last seen doing the rounds at the end of the 1980s. Although there is an element of rock peeping out from deep within the Euro dance structure, 'Black Groves' is certainly not Goose at their best. That role is left to 'British Mode' which expertly melds dance with rock to perfection with just the right levels of dance mingling with a glam rock mix. Hot on its heels though is '3T4', a track that could easily have fallen off Kasabian's 'Empire'. Brandishing a heavy bass line that ups Goose's dirty sleaze rock quota, '3T4' goes onto inject some strategically placed beats to spice up the track, proving how great Goose can be.
As a sampler for their latest album, 'Bring It On', this collection of songs is an insightful look at the Belgium four piece. Ultimately they produce a mixed assortment of tracks, sometimes veering too far down the dance street to really please but when they get their blend of rock/dance right they are the masters and should certainly show the up and coming so called Nu-Rave acts a thing or too.