The Crimea
Lottery Winners On Acid

It’s now been over three years since we first heard that The Crocketts had mutated into The Crimea, and a little while longer since three minutes of doe-eyed bliss entitled ‘Lottery Winners On Acid’ first graced the ears of your correspondant. But I can see the question unfolding itself as you open your quivering lips, and that question is: is it still worth it? After a change in label, a large production-sheen overhaul and the best part of half a decade gone by, is ‘LWOA’ still…well…any good?

The answer is, frankly, yes. The answer is, frankly, abso-bloody-lutely. The Crimea seem to have the ability to craft songs that, even if they were pumped continuously into your consciousness from here to eternity, would still fill you with some inexplicable desire to bellow along with them. Seeing as this song is their most timeless, it means ‘Lottery Winners On Acid’ has lost nothing of its puppy-dog charm. Sure, it does resonate with dark undertones – “If she got’s a disease, I want a disease” and so on – but the overall effect is too sweet to seem twisted, just wildly and loveably naïve. Yes, the re-recording may give the song an entirely different sentiment to some people, but whereas the original would’ve felt a bit creepy without all the breathless coy glances, the ‘Tragedy Rocks’ version has enough twinkling glockenspiels, stratospheric guitars and lovelorn vocal ensembles to stick a glittery rocket under your ribcage marked ‘With compliments, D. Macmanus’.

What's more, if you’re missing their sorrowful side, they give an understated go to Holland/Dozier/Holland’s ‘You’ve Been A Long Time Coming’ on the flipside, making it sound like some bitter cabaret act (in a good way) still unsuccessfully trying to lure you for a slow dance. What are you waiting for?