Pack Up the Cats
Pack Up the Cats gives Local H's rough guitar rock a stronger melodic shape. Scott Lucas and Joe Daniels make a substantial sound as a duo, with producer Roy Thomas Baker bringing the hooks into clearer view. The record also has a sharp sense of humour about life in a band. Its linked songs turn frustration and failed ambition into something more engaging than a complaint about the music business.
The guitars retain their grit, and Daniels' drums keep the performances forceful. The fuller sound suits the material because the album is interested in both the attraction of success and the disappointment behind it.
All the Kids Are Right makes that balance particularly effective. The song has a strong, inviting chorus, but its picture of a band struggling through a poor show gives the melody a less comfortable setting. The contrast makes it memorable without requiring an elaborate musical arrangement.
All-Right (Oh, Yeah) provides a direct rock opening, and Fine and Good offers another convincing example of the duo's ability to connect force with a tune. She Hates My Job brings the humour further forward, showing how the writing can make a recognisable frustration feel specific rather than merely bitter.
The fifteen-track sequence has a clear shared character. The songs work as parts of a larger look at ambition, insecurity and the ordinary problems surrounding a band, with the playing giving those ideas enough energy to stay involving. The concept remains easy to follow without needing an explanation beside every track.
The whole is stronger than every individual piece. Some songs make less of an impression on their own, and the sound does not move far beyond the band's established approach. The irony can also become too obvious in places.
Even so, Pack Up the Cats has enough strong hooks and direct playing to make its connected structure rewarding. Local H find a clear musical use for their frustrations, turning familiar guitar-rock language into a characterful, thoughtful album.
