Happy Go Lickey was formed shortly after Rites of Spring disbanded in 1986, consisting of exactly the same members. The band never released any studio albums but two collections of live recordings are available, including this one, put out by Dischord records. Happy Go Lickey’s music is not worlds apart from Rites of Springs emotive post-hardcore. It is more heavily instrumental, but it shares that raw, underproduced sound. There are some weird guitar sounds on this album, for instance on the song “Boca Raton” which has sounds similar to what the NYC subway makes when a train screeches to a halt. This was more experimental and less direct and to the point. Vocals here are similar to those from Fugazi (more restrained than Rites of Spring), but they generally are buried in the mix and hard to focus in on. Admittedly, I find this somewhat less compelling than Rites of Spring whose songs were a bit more emotionally affecting. This is by design, of course, and we should take Will Play for what it is. It isn’t a studio album, rather a collection of incidental recordings and there are some interesting sounds here for fans of post-hardcore or emo (the 1980s version).
7.7 / 10
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