In this week's music review column we've got the latest offerings from The Enemy, Sigur Rós, The Verve, Arctic Monkeys, The Housemartins and The Beautiful South. Read on and let me know what you think...
The Enemy – We’ll live and die in these towns
Reminds a lot of The Jam’s early hit Going Underground. The buoyant, upbeat feel of the music starkly contrasts with the gritty words “Don’t let it drag you down!� sings himself, okey dokey, sounds like a good idea to me. We’ll just dance along to the music, and ignore the fact that the toilet (apparently) smells like desperation….
Sigur Rós - Heima
Disc one of Heima is a spellbinding music documentary, which uses the dazzling Icelandic landscapes as a backdrop to glorious ethereal soaring music, reminiscent of Radiohead, Bjork, Yes, and perhaps even U2, though still totally original. Even if you have never heard of this band, you have heard their music, in adverts, TV and films. Heima is a million miles away from your average music film - I have not seen anything like it since Koyaanisqatsi. It feels very intimate, featuring the band on tour in Iceland, talking about their strange and familiar experiences as musicians coming back to play for their hometown audience. It gives fascinating insight into how it feels to play gigs in often tiny venues to small local audiences, after having played in huge venues across the world. Disc two feature two hours of live performance. This is a lovely DVD. My only grumble is that I don’t have a full sized cinema screen to play it on, to make the most of the mesmeric sound and video. But even on a computer screen, it absolutely takes your breath away.
The Verve: This Is Music – The Singles 92-98 (CD & DVD)
Rising from the wreckage of the Britpop hangover, The Verve were the world-beating, Gallagher-approved heirs to the throne who imploded at the peak of their powers.First released last year, this belated greatest hits collection from one of the best bands of the 90s takes on new relevance following the Wigan group’s surprise reformation.All the classics are there – Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work, History – but sit uncomfortably alongside earlier, more psychedelic material such as Slide Away and Blue.The previously unheard This Could Be My Moment and Monte Carlo do little to change the view this is an unnecessary cash-in, but the defining Bittersweet Symphony video, featured on the DVD, is worth the money alone.New fans would be better advised to buy the albums to learn about the history of a band who, implausibly, could yet enjoy a glorious future.
3/5
Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker
Who knew a song about fairground entertainment could pack such a punch? The latest single from the Sheffield lads laments the ills of modern society with a darker undertone than we’ve seen before.Twenty-one year old Alex Turner seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders as he spits “Who'd want to be men of the people when there's people like you?�.
4/5
BIN IT
The Housemartins/The Beautiful South - Soup
There’s a drab dreariness in this that really gets me down. The enforced cheeriness of Happy Hour doesn’t really lift things, as even that is deeply dull. Maybe they had their place, first time round, but that ship has sailed, leaving them high and dry, with nowhere to go. Even the staunchest old fans will struggle to find a reason to buy this, as there’s nothing new offered here. For this to do well, they would be reliant on a brand new fanbase locking in, taking them to their hearts and shelling out their hard earned, and I can’t see that happening, when there is so much other, better and less dreary music around.