Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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Ignored by the majority but adored by a faithful, modest few, Failsworth, Manchester's Puressence were something of a contradiction in terms. Although they shared a laddish image and an implied arrogance with the mid-'90s incarnations of other north west England indie rock acts such as Oasis and the Charlatans, the high-register, ethereal vocals of frontman James Mudriczki pointed to something altogether more sophisticated. Claims that the band met on a bus on the way to the Stone Roses' legendary May 1990 gig at Spike Island, helped fuel and maintain their down-to-earth credentials, while in contrast their music represented a transcendence of the mundane – similarly executed during this period by acts such as Aberdeen, Scotland's Geneva, and later by Southampton's the Delays.

Upon their formation, guitarist Neil McDonald was the only member with any musical knowledge; bass player Kevin Matthews and drummer Anthony Szuminski soon caught up, providing the ideal, brooding backdrop for Mudriczki's moody and emotive falsetto. Between 1992 and 1993 early EPs released through Rough Trade and 2 Damned Loud made the legendary Island Records sit up and take notice, and by 1995, the label had issued the U2-inspired single "I Suppose." Their self-titled debut album appeared the following year drawing favorable comparisons to Radiohead's work on The Bends. That said, even a Puressence promotional campaign that included five singles – as well as a Manchester city center poster operation that bordered on causing criminal damage – couldn't persuade the U.K. record-buying public to turn their attention away from (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by hometown giants Oasis.

With its lighter, pop focused sound 1998's Only Forever, yielded the band's first U.K. top 40 single – the Who-inspired "This Feeling." Following that year's acquisition of Island by Universal, the label continued to show faith in Puressence, eventually releasing the ambitious Planet Helpless in October 2002, despite many other acts of their ilk being stripped from their roster in the intervening period. However, 2003 saw the band part company with the label and their manager as well as McDonald, who went on to form the Editors-influenced local act Juno Ashes. A fan of the band, Lowell Killen, stepped in to replace him on guitar, while the next few years brought sporadic live appearances.

Rumors that the band had split were laid to rest in September 2007 when they returned with the self-released Don't Forget to Remember. Recorded at Manchester's Revolution Studios, the album failed to take root on home soil, but helped to spread the word further afield. The accompanying tour took in their first U.S. dates and built on the earlier success of Planet Helpless in Greece. While their fourth album placed them back into the Top Ten of the Greek album charts, the uplifting single "Don't Know Any Better" reached number one, along with a prestigious support slot with Depeche Mode. The retrospective Sharpen Up the Knives arrived in October 2009, prior to the band's biggest ever U.K. headlining gig in front of 3,500 fans at the Manchester Apollo.

James Wilkinson, Allmusic.com

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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A friend introduced me to this album some years ago and I fell in love with it immediately. I bought the album as soon as I could get my hands on it, and also their second album ("Only Forever") when it came out. I saw the band play live a couple of times too and the music was as smooth live as it was from the studio.

The album is full of sweeping layers of beautiful music; track after track of incredible vocals supported by a powerful, but understated, guitar-based sound. My personal favourite is "I suppose" which rapidly became one of my favourite songs of all time.

If you like intelligent guitar-based music, you really should treat yourself to this.

Review by Amazon.co.uk Customer

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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A song or two aside (the climactic "Gazing Down" certainly has some of the spirit right at the start), Puressence's second album took the band a bit further away from the Chameleons comparisons that dogged the group on its first effort. While there's definitely an appreciation of the dark and mysterious undercurrent of Manchester music that has made such a mark over the years, it's all the more the band's own interpretation of it this time. Mike Hedges' production work is some of his best in years, while Dave Eringa handles a fair share himself, and between the two of them the band's blend of delicacy and surging power is captured to a T. "Sharpen Up the Knives," the brilliant opener, itself would have to silence more than a few doubters, balancing a restrained, nervous opening with a brawling energetic explosion of sound, in turn making the midsong break's return to calm all the more nerve-racked. That James Mudriczki has a voice that could almost be a pure and pristine vocal from soaring, swooning '60s pop is really the secret weapon of the band – without aiming for a ghost of Jeff Buckley/Thom Yorke falsetto as directly as certain bands, he achieves the same lift and grace. It's what helps make the cascading power of "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" and "Never Be the Same Again" so grand, but at heart it's the interplay of the both lush and brusque guitars that truly sends the songs. Given how many bands were to follow that ended up creating dull photocopies of Radiohead's own unique blend of tension and beauty, the comparative obscurity of Puressence and Only Forever is all the more criminal. This is an album worth thousands of Travises and Coldplays.

Ned Raggett, Allmusic.com

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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Fans of Puressence's first album who thought it couldn't be bettered might have to rethink on listening to Planet Helpless, their third and most consummate work to date. There are unquestionably more than a few efforts on this disc that match up to the exuberance of their debut. 12 tracks of almost equal length prove that with consistency alone they are continuously working away from such tags as Madchester-era hangers-on, and Ride – or even U2 – soundalikes. Lead vocalist James Mudriczki has the gift of the nearest thing to a natural falsetto you might ever hear which makes the group unique; while the rest of the band form the tightest and most accomplished of sounds. All this and more can be gleaned from the commanding opener "Walking Dead," with its thumping and driving style at which Puressence alone are most proficient. There's an archetypal quality to the haunting songs found here too, as in "Prodigal Song," where an oft-used chord structure is made their own with the use of echoes and hums, and on "Comfort When you Smile," where spacey keyboards are used to similar effect. Less expected are the upbeat "She's Gotten Over You" and "You Move Me," as is the Mexican-style brass fill and the French accordion on "How Does it Feel?," but these are a welcome addition to the moodiness found on previous albums, and replicated here in full effect on "Make Time"." Affiliated with an industry which likes to push its artists to progress, Puressence stand firm; emotive, sharp, and relentless.

Owen Guthrie-Jones, Allmusic.com

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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If you're here you obviously have a taste for impassioned, emotive rock. Music with depth, feeling and quality. The kind of music that stays with you past the first listen, past even the 20th listen. The kind of music that becomes an indespensible part of your life.

This is Puressence.

Only Snow Patrol and Radiohead at their best come close. And it's a crime of the greatest magnitude that this band's name doesn't trip off the tongue as readily as "OK Computer" "Run" or (God help us…) "Coldplay" when those "best of…" lists come round.

This, their fourth album, eschews some of the open and melancholic soundtracks of previous releases and ups the ampage to produce a superb, almost wall-of-sound effect. It washes over you with James's voice a shining diamond in the barrage. It's a unique voice, to be sure, but utterly spellbinding.

Please, if you're even a little tempted, just take five minutes and look at the reviews and stars for Puressence's previous three albums.

They are:
Puressence
Only Forever
Planet Helpless

This is not advertising or sloganeering, this band have been the BEST band in the country for almost ten years. Be warned though, if you buy one you will buy all four.

Sera69, Amazon.co.uk

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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Puressence return with a retrospective so called 'best of…' album and what an album it is!

The tracklisting leans heavily to their amazing 2nd album 'Only Forever' which is fair enough as Island Records have deleted this title alongside the other two albums released on that Label. Vocalist James Mudriczki deserves to be a star. His voice is possibly the best in this country if not the world!

The real gems here are the 3 new songs included, especially the absolutely epic 'Our Number's Oracle' which to these ears is the best Puressence song yet!

Mr. A. B. Mcmahon, Amazon.co.uk

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Puressence - Albums Collection 1996-2011 (6CD) [Re-Up]

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Formed in between the seminal debuts from Stone Roses and Oasis, Manchester four-piece Puressence have had to constantly contend with being their hometown's plucky underdogs despite producing a series of underrated albums which more than hold their own against their more celebrated counterparts. While the indie music scene might previously have had trouble accepting a Mancunian guitar band without the swagger of the Stone Roses or the laddishness of Oasis, the recent colossal success of their fellow melancholic North West neighbors, Elbow, suggests that they might never find a more convenient time to finally make that long-awaited breakthrough. On the evidence of their fifth studio album, Solid State Recital, a Mercury Music Prize nomination shouldn't be too far away. Backed by Manic Street Preachers producers Dave Eringa and Ian Grimble's grandiose Wall of Sound and fronted by James Mudriczki, whose astonishing falsetto effortlessly soars like Roy Orbison's and emotively shimmers like Alison Moyet's, its ten tracks are a tour de force in impassioned windswept indie rock. Opening track "Swathes of Sea Made Stone" indicates from the offset that there's unlikely to be any leery Brit-pop anthems ahead, beginning as it does with a two-minute, atmospheric, shoegazing instrumental before "that" voice works its magic on some folky melodies, made even more haunting by the backing vocals of legendary U.S. singer/songwriter Judy Collins, who also features more prominently on the brooding balladry of "When Your Eyes Close." Elsewhere, "In Harm's Way" is a surprisingly effective fusion of jangly indie, Tears for Fears-esque new wave and mesmerizing gothic chanting; the bizarrely titled "Cape of No Hope (Water's Edge)" is a spellbinding torch song which repeatedly flits between Jeff Buckley-style theatrics and early-'90s grunge, while "Solid State" showcases their much-hidden lighter side with its blend of faux-Motown beats, glam rock guitars, and triumphant brass riffs. Its relentlessly tense nature may be a little too heavy for anyone expecting Snow Patrol levels of epic-ness, but nearly 20 years into their career, Puressence may have produced the record that turns them from Manchester's best-kept secret into the U.K.'s best newly discovered stalwarts.

Jon O'Brien, Allmusic.com