The very first album where I knew some tracks on it, I was really please to get to delve beyond just the singles of this band. A fun album, that
has some real highlights on it, and is head-boppingly catchy. However, there is
a fair amount of filler, which dilutes it somewhat. The running
time is 54 minutes and change, and frankly, you could comfortably take 15 minutes
off that and have a better album as a result. An example of this is the
surprisingly straight-up cover of We Have All the Time in The World, which
serves no purpose at all, other than to irritate the listener. It's not
original in any sense of the word, but nor is the strength of the vocals going
to rival the original.
Passive/Aggressive
is a satisfyingly angry track, which makes use of some nicely distorted guitars
to give a very 90s feel. The opener is an absolute riot, and as soon as it
started, it took me back to my late 90s days of taping songs off XFM. Scooby Snacks is a
standout, and probably the best starting point for anyone who hasn't heard any
of the bands' material before.
Huey Morgan now has
a very successful BBC 6 Music Radio Show, and his range of musical tastes comes
across in a formative sense on this album. Although the lyrical content runs
along similar themes between the songs, there is a real variety in the backing
tracks, riffs and samples used across the whole album, from the hillbilly
touches of the opener, to the hazy, acoustic tones of Smoke em.
Overall, a decent album, but the high points are slightly isolated amongst some fairly average tracks.
Chloe's rating: 6
Chloe's favourite
track: 5. Smoke 'em
Olly's rating: 6
Olly's favourite
track: 1. The Fun Lovin' Criminal
Next week's album is XTC - Skylarking. Sounds interesting...
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