The Raving Beauties are a new collaborative project featuring acclaimed singer/songwriter Gordon Grahame aka Lucky Jim and writer/musician Brian Bell; whose Brighton-set short story ‘The Unsung Classic’ about the trials and tribulations of an unruly, ill-fated Brighton group inspired by the cities retro 60’s subculture, was the catalyst behind the band: “After I’d written the story, I got the idea that it might be fun to make an album sounding how I imagined The Raving Beauties might have sounded, with a fake back-story of it being an unreleased artefact from 20 years ago and see if anyone would take the bait” explains Brian. Following on perfectly from their recent single ‘Oh Lover’, the band draws on their wealth of musical experience and myriad of influences to deliver an album packed full of breezy vocal harmonies, effortlessly catchy chord progressions, and most importantly – some wondrous songs, harking back to halcyon, sun drenched days. Recorded and produced by Gordon Grahame at his home studio, the eleven songs featured combine the 60’s inspired sunshine jangle of Teenage Fanclub with the grace and beauty of Big Star at their most melodic, albeit played with their own distinct sound. From the lush Teenage Fanclub-esque guitar-pop of lead single ‘Oh Lover’, via the blissed out ‘I Want To Know It Now’ – capturing echoes of The Byrds, right through to the anthemic ‘Where I Belong’, The Raving Beauties have expertly crafted an album full of the sounds of summer and power-pop jangle.
