The ungainly-named And What Will Be Left of Them? are the best thing to come out of Worcester since the A38. They play organ-driven swirly-pop that bears comparison with the Rezillos, the Caesars and the mighty Loves themselves, although on ‘Where Are You Tonight?’ they also show that they’re the only band in 25 years to be influenced by Joe Jackson. The set list, which contains prompts for between-song information-giving, reveals that they’re more together than the basement of a central London public house has any right to expect. For more information, try their website (Reviewed by Ged M)

At first glance Dustin’s Bar Mitzvah could be any one of dozens of bands on the London scene at the moment. Four skinny young boys with tousled moptop hair, neck scarves and I suspect mp3 players filled with the back catalogue of the Stones and Clash. Fortunately three things lift them just above the norm. The first is that some of their songs are good. Very good in fact. The lyrics may be indecipherable but a number of the songs have that hook happy feel of the Libertines; scratchy and frantic guitar led punky powerpop. Second is their youth; the drummer is allegedly only 16. Finally there’s something quite appealing about their mix of ‘time of our lives’ giddiness and good natured fun. At one stage they find the Loves set list and complain that the other band have far better song titles, before jamming their own impromptu version of what they thought the Loves’Depeche Mode might sound like; a funny mess of 80s electro-band references and bluesy guitar codswallop. Now all they need to do is drop some of the weaker clichéd punk thrash efforts and get a decent name! (Reviewed by Paul M)

There was a time when all the world needed now was Loves, the sweet Loves, and our Cardiff chums delivered their bubblegum kisses more times than I could count. But it turned bad and it was with some relief that the miserable half of the band left, while Simon struck lucky with the three replacements who are both foxy and, frankly, a lot more joyful than the last lot. Right now the world’s crying out for a little love – maybe they’ll slip into bed with these six. For their first London gig in their new guise (literally, in the case of Pnosni’s shoddy papier-mache mummy costume) the band play the sort of set the old line up played but the new crew sound like they’ve known these songs forever; from halfway through the set (around the time they play the best version of ‘Chelsea Girl’ I’ve ever heard), through ‘Boom-A-Bang-Bang-Bang’ and ‘I’m Gonna Get Fucked Up’, it sounds as perfect a blend of pop-psychedelia, Velvet-een dark rock and C86 indie as they’ve ever made and a confirmation of the reason we fell in love with them in the first place. The Loves are back from the dead and like Jesus, they’re preaching a gospel we can all follow. (Reviewed by Ged M)

Pictures credit: Bob at Underexposed

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