Albums

Album Review: The Charlatans

[Album: You Crossed My Path]
[Label: Cooking Vinyl]

So you want something for nothing, right? Well, those Madchester maestros, The Charlatans, are here to help. They’ve only gone and made this, their latest album, available free to download through the XFM website. So is it worth you tuning in and checking it out? Well, yes and no. Fans of the band will love it and something for free is always nice, but then if you were looking for something that you weren’t already familiar with you’d just be adding to the clutter, right? To be honest you’d be better of seeking out the album’s “Limited Edition” which has extra and live tracks alongside a couple of poptastic colour-filled videos.

Remember the heady, debauched days of Britpop? The Charlatans certainly do and ’You Cross My Path’ is full of the same steady bass work, the same plodding drums, and the same penchant for endless maudling in the same bunged-up tone. Current single ‘Oh! Vanity’ is awash with all this - swimming along, head down, oblivious to it’s lack of originality. However there is no disguising the fact that these days there is a lighter, fresher feel to their music and this album has that in spades with top-notch production values and now the introduction of an understated spot of electronica a la New Order. ‘Mis-Stakes’ is all synths, samples and guitars of clever subtlety. Tim Burgess’ vocal has been deliberately left sounding lost until he’s joined by a double for the chorus section. ’The Misbegotten’ is all brevity and simplicity. With just a pair of chords to fall back on, the band fills the void with driving drums and wailing keys which gives it a welcome, hurried feel.

The class act here is the bubbling title-track which oozes panache, pace and passion. There’s a hook to die for, a punched choral rise that excites, and enough brains to quit while it’s ahead. It even stands up to repeated plays! Glory be! And then… oh woe. There is the appalling dirge that is ‘My Name Is Despair’ which finds solace in trying to replicate The Stone Roses whilst finding none of the grime or guts that made their music so moreish. What this all boils down to is plain old uninspired song writing - something that The Charlatans have never found to be a problem before. With the final track being titled ’This Is The End’ it does make you fear for the loveable rogues that have brought us so much joy in the past. They are better than this and perhaps they would have been best served trying to attract new fans with a collection of greatest hits for free and not a collection of mediocre misses.

For fans of: The Stone Roses, Oasis, New Order
Band links = The Charlatans

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Tags: album, cd, Charlatans, You Cross My Path, review

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