Led by Mickey Oliver, they’ve been around the live circuit around the North East for a couple of years, and, after a recent name change from plain old Vanguard, are starting to become more widely known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Support slots with the likes of Hung Like Hanratty, Headsticks and The Kingcrows have helped raise their profile, and this 11-track album of original material should help spread the word even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mostly written by Mickey, it’s a hard-to-pigeonhole collection of songs which I liked on first play, and sounds better every time I listen to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The songs are about community and belonging, as well as more personal topics such as struggling to cope with life’s trials and tribulations.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"operation](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ipamusic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/operation-vanguard.jpg?resize=640%2C427\")
It kicks off with English Soldier<\/em>, penned by Robb Banks, and there’s a real early Alarm feel to the track, probably due to the acoustic guitar and yearning harmonica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same could be said of The Road<\/em> and Up And Down<\/em>, though the latter is probably closer in sound to The Levellers or Ferocious Dog, thanks to the added fiddle. These are folk-rock songs played with a passion born out of punk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the highlights is Land Of Hopeless Glory<\/em>, written by Karen Houghton, who’s in punk covers band Dreddnautz <\/strong>with Operation Vanguard’s guitarist Mark, bassist Razor and drummer Frank. Despite the title, it’s an upbeat song which defiantly declares “this is our land, this city is our home<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n Keeping It Real<\/em> has a touch of the Bruce Springsteens, while My Town’s Called Despair<\/em> is surprisingly cheerful given the subject matter as Mickey sings: “This is life, this is living\/This is life, unforgiving<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better Days<\/em> looks forward with optimism despite lines like: “This town ain’t dying, it’s already dead\/All the young are leaving, I heard their cry\/Someone told the truth, wrapped in a lie.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The standout track, for me, is Free Falling<\/em> – nothing to do with the Tom Petty song of the same name. It’s about wasting your life, has a real nostalgic feel and is the catchiest thing here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Things are brought to a close by Homeland<\/em>, the lead song on a four-track EP released digitally last year. It leaves you wanting more, as every good album should. I can’t wait to catch Operation Vanguard live, and in the meantime I’ll be listening to this on repeat. 8.5\/10.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ALBUM REVIEW: Operation Vanguard – Operation Vanguard (self-released)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,9,78,7],"tags":[2704,2703],"class_list":["post-9993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-review","category-alternative","category-folk-punk","category-punk","tag-mickey-oliver","tag-operation-vanguard"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Operation](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ipamusic.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/operation-vanguard-montage.jpeg?resize=640%2C580\")
Standout track<\/h3>\n\n\n\n