If you are the kind of person who has been tuning into BBC Four for the punk-era repeats of Top Of The Pops, then lend your ears to the classic descending guitar-chord riff that opens album number two from Glasgow's Chris Devotion And The Expectations. It smacks of the same Elvis Costello influences that made their debut, Amalgamation And Capital, such a swaggering delight, although here (the song's called Saddest Thing), there is also something of the snarly US punk momentum of Husker Du and The Replacements at their most melodic.
That is the thing about CD/EX (as shorthand has it): you can't help but namedrop other bands who set up this template, but their particular brand of no-nonsense rock 'n' roll has always shrugged off fancy frills and gone straight to the heart.
If You Want To leave is Bruce Springsteen if he had seen the light, shelved Born To Run and used The Ramones as his model, while Song for A Girl matches its baritone and tenor harmonies like Difford and Tilbrook on a rough night out on the tiles with Squeeze.
They say rock 'n' roll will never die - and it probably won't as long as there are guys such as CD/EX around to give it the kiss of life
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