The Beat Surrender

Everybody knows the story of The Charlatans, of how the band have managed to survive more than their fair share of atrocities (armed robberies, deaths and dodgy accountants) and of how they’ve lived through many a music scene (baggy, shoegazing, and Britpop to name a few.) that a few lazy journalist have pigeon holed them to.

I’m not ashamed in admitting that growing up as a teenager in the nineties, the charlatans we’re one of my favourite bands, with their Hammond fuelled anthems making me strut my stuff round many an indie night, with the likes of Up To Our Hips and the self titled album being forgotten gems of an era that much of today’s music rags seem to ridicule.

Unfortunately though, post millennium has found the boys from Northwich lagging a bit, with the likes of Wonderland (like marmite), Up At The Lake (MOR) and Simpatico (just awful) not being up to scratch in what was arguably, one of the best back catalogue’s of modern day British guitar groups.

Anyway, everyone deserves a fourth chance and it’s good to see that the boys our using their initiative in trying to introduce their music to a wider audience by offering the album as a free download as of March.

First single Oh Vanity is as good a start since Forever on Us & Us Only, with the boys sounding fresh and confident as the trademark Hammond blares its ass through the chorus, whilst Tim’s singing in his natural tone rather than doing his Prince bit.

Bad Days also has a nice tempo to it and is well put together, which makes me start to get carried away a bit, that may be this could be the album the boys should have done many a year ago, and I’m more than impressed with Mis-takes although it does clearly rip off New Order at their prime, but isn’t recycling the norm these days.

Unfortunately though, this is where things start to slide a bit, with latest single The Misbegetton sounding rather ordinary if not B side material at best and A Day For Letting Go reminiscent of a bad Bowie impression during the chorus.

This is further compounded on Missing Beats which sounds like some shitty catch line from an eighties game show or radio jingle, My Name Is Despair seems very laboured to which you think where is this going? And I find myself pressing the skip button half way through which is always a bad thing.

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