PIOTR FIJALKOWSKI’S gloomy, doomed romantics are rock revisionists from the old school. Obviously inspired by the likes of Echo And The Bunnymen and The House Of Love they aim to take copycat bedsit rock to the next phase. If they lack the Bunnies’ majestic, rainswept elemental grandeur at least they have the potential to escape the dismal fate of becoming merely the missing link between The Only Ones and the Manic Street Preachers.
Piotr, guitarist Robert Dillan and the walk don’t run rhythm section seem too bright to fall into the suspect new glam camp and while they reference Presley (Reg not Elvis) the singer’s white suited antics and the overall sound shimmers with a swagger that leaves British pop’s grey areas in the shade.
“When I fail I wanna fail completely, “wails Fijalkowski on ‘Favourite Fallen Idol’, one of several lippy anthems guaranteed to bring a fresh generation of stage rushers into the orbit of these would-be icons. Elsewhere, ‘Cut-2’ borrows plenty from ‘The Cutter’ just as ‘Sistine Chapel Ceiling’ revamps the Chadwick catalogue of home improvements to fair effect.
For those of an age and inclination to be impressed, Adorable’s smashed fragments will make perfect pop sense. Everything they do has been done before, but not by them. Selfish, pouting and immensely cross, these narcissistic youths could be holding the mirror centre stage for at least, ooh, 15 minutes.
© Max Bell, Vox, April 1993