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Supergrass are a band that have always interested me. In Gaz Coombes they have a lead man who always seems to be on the edge of greatness, but never quite reaches the consistency to get there.
First and foremost, the Oxford trio are great musicians and can play around with styles and tone effortlessly - there is always a sense of dirty funk in there somewhere, mixed with a set of seriously good pop songs, as 1993's Supergrass are 10 showcases brilliantly. For me they are the band that The Stereophonics never were - and that is down to their secret weapon: a wicked sense of humour! Just skip to track 5 here if you need convincing - Coffee in the Pot epitomizes the daft, yet ever intelligent feel that almost won them a Monkees-style TV show a few years back, until the execs decided the world needed S-Club 7 more!
There is a lot on this latest album to like, admire and, in a while perhaps, even love - 1st single and stand-out track St. Petersberg is as good as anything on their last two albums, falling only slightly short of the best tracks on their most accomplished (in my opinion) album, In It For The Money, from 1997.
Labeled 70s Rock Revivalists by many, Supergrass are so much more than that, and I look forward to letting the less immediate tracks wash over me, and hopefully to seeing them gain new fans on the back of this sophisticated new release. I used to think of them as a very ‘studenty’ band - now they seem like a band for students who have grown up a little, and, although quite a few will, I don't see anything wrong with that. 8.5/10
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