Yay for dad’s record collection! Birds of Avalon have been doing their homework and are on their way to being accepted at Oxbridge. Well, something like that. Dads aside, Bazaar Bazaar is a good old fashioned, solid rock record, albeit in a slightly School of Rock manner.

Most of the time wearing your influences on your sleeve is reprehensible, but Birds of Avalon wear them well. Led Zep, Sabbath, Rush, Pink Floyd, Lynyrd Skynyrd – they’re all detectable, but it is more the spirit of those bands that feature rather than direct pilfering. I found fault with the unnecessary prog-indulgences, the band sound better when they are more straightforward rock. ‘Instant Coma’ is pleasant, but seems a bit lost amongst the rest of the album, or maybe I expect a song of that title to turn into a 20-minute psych-fest? There is a small danger that Birds of Avalon might err towards something approaching The Darkness (‘Superpower’), but ultimately they’re more denim than spandex, which is far preferable!

Eliot Nash