(Astralwerks)
OK, first there's the title. I don't want to say "hoo ha" in front of my mother, even though she has one. It's certainly not something that 30-something men who wear suits should be sporting on their business cards.
Next, there's the cover photo. I mean, just look at this: Supergrass look like Hanson, for goodness' sake, and I don't mean Hanson today, I mean, that's right, “Mmm Bop”-era Hanson. By all rights, this record should be called Diamond Airbrushing. These guys now look like creatures that that interchangeable Kate Hudson/Kate Moss/Liv Tyler monster would sleep with.
So why is it actually a good record?
I shouldn't be too surprised — Supergrass has always been a decent Britpop band. And poppy they remain, more Blur than T. Rex, but they still retain their dignity, even while making a damn fine pop album that wouldn’t sound out of place in the background in an episode of "I Got Crabs with Tila Tequila" or some such MTV hit.
While they're no Radiohead, they even manage to throw in a somewhat avante-garde horn in "The Return of..." and an entire circus groove in "Whiskey & Green Tea" that made my morning. I think one of the songs was about war being bad and even referenced Dylan, but that's why one shouldn’t listen too closely to pop lyrics. Everybody cut footloose.
c. 2008 LEO Weekly
