Liverpool’s Shack were no strangers to misfortune (often due in no small part to singer Mick Head’s battles with drug addiction), yet the story behind their second album is a tale of woe even by their standards. Waterpistol was recorded in 1991 with producer Chris Allison, but before its songs could see the light of day, the master tapes were destroyed in a studio fire. Fortunately, Allison had made a DAT recording as a back-up. Unfortunately, he left said DAT in the back of a hire care before leaving for America. Amazingly, the hire company eventually managed to track down the tape, but in the intervening months the band’s bassist had left to join Cast, their label had folded and a disillusioned Head had slipped into severe heroin addiction. Eventually released by independent German label Marina in 1995, Waterpistol remains testament to Head’s songwriting genius. Aided by the deft guitar playing of his brother John, the songs here transport the darkly psychedelic majesty of his beloved Arthur Lee and Love to the drug-washed underbelly of early ’90s Liverpool. Tracks such as Neighbours, Mood Of The Morning and the peerless Undecided are rich with empathetic character studies and humour, each one glistening through the haze with a dazzling melodic beauty.