6th October, 1997

A return to form, singleswise.

Single of the Week

"Closed For Business" by Mansun

Flushed with success after the "Attack Of The Grey Lantern" LP, Mansun's reinventions take new form with this grandoise, epic little number. Similar in style to Radiohead's "Paranoid Android", this at first seems formless, with orchestras tuning up, meandering acoustic doodlings and a big swoonsome chorus. After a couple of listens however, this lodges into your mind and expands into a thing of some loveliness: music to dream to. By taking this grand romantic direction, Mansun do themselves nothing but good, as they are up there with the best of the Manics and Radiohead when it comes to passion.

First song on CD1 "K.I.Double.S.I.N.G." opens with the sound of "Holidays In The Sun" goosestepping, which runs throughout this sixities-influenced classic, echoing surf guitar wrapping round the playground ditty lyrics. The sound of an intelligent band experimenting and having fun, it is - like Suede and (grudgingly) Oasis manage to do - a b-side with the quality of an a-side. Next is "Everyone Must Win the Mansun/Howard Devoto collaboration. Starting off scarily like Sigue Sigue Sputnik, this soon improves into a sci-fi soundtrack, with the song itself phasing in and out of the electro-mix like the Tardis. Another non-disposable b-side. Last up is "The World's Still Open", the most traditional "indie" song on the EP and the one with the biggest Tune. Slightly psychedelic and Beatles-y, most bands would be happy to put this one first.

This EP proves that "Attack.." was no fluke, and that Mansun are producing some of the most vital and exciting music around today. Out in a field of their own now, having left most influences behind, they are a band to pin your hopes to. Watch them burn.

The second CD contains an acoustic version of "Dark Mavis" and a live take on "Stripper Vicar". Classics both. This CD also has a multimedia section (the infamous "Taxloss" video plus more), but I can never get these things to work. Bloody computers.

Rating: 10/10

The Rest

"Hurricane" by Warm Jets

Songs with big lolloping basslines always get my vote (Pixies were the masters of this), so "Hurricane" with its lynchpin bass scores highly. Carrying on Warm Jets consistenly impressive and shining collection of pop jewels, the song is not a million miles away from Frank Black's crazy gang, with its gorgeous, ululating chorus and tune. Important thing, tune. Wish more bands thought this way.

Second track is "Desert Cats", a weird, pneumatic machine that trundles through Peter Gabriel territory before disappearing over the horizon. Like kindergarten Kraftwerk (no insult intended), this - like Mansun above - is the sound of experimentalism, but thankfully without a trace of muso wank pretention. "Forever" follows, with its huge scary guitar that underlines the song with a dark and dangerous tone, a la JAMC. "South Dakota" inhabits similar territory, a slow ponderous tune that evokes mood and images of miles and miles of nothing: nothing that you can lose yourself in.

With bands like this, indie music is looking healthier than it has done in several years. Refreshing as a mouthwash after the hangover of Britpop, Warm Jets deserve to explode like a firework display. Help them do so.

Rating: 9/10

"Late In The Day" by Supergrass

This starts off as the world's first Supergrass ballad, before the Sgt Pepper psychedelia kicks in. Still a slowie, and a grower that showcases Supergrass's more mature side, "Late In The Day" is the summer's parting shot: a lazy hazy sunset that fades away gloriously. Thankfully Supergrass didn't take the one-way ticket to cartoonsville that it looked as though they were after the excellent exuberance of "I Should Coco". The sound of bouncy, sideburned youth would have grated quickly: this material is a progression and the next chapter of a band that looks as though they have a long ride ahead.

"We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give)" is a gloriously glam sound of the seventies package, the sort of music that David Soul played before going out on a Saturday night. Lovely. Last up is a demo version of "It's Not Me", which is the aforementioned first Supergrass ballad, a mature and affecting plaintive acoustic number.

Rating: 8/10

"I Am The Mob" by Catatonia

Any song that opens with the lines "I put horses heads in peoples' beds cos I am the mob" deserves a pretty high mark. God knows when Catatonia went rawk, but they obviously have been away listening to their Suzi Quatro records. No bad thing - though you get the sense tongues are stuck in cheeks with superglue - and a blast of furnace-fresh air, taking all those that would lump Catatonia and others together in some big happy Welsh conglomerate and sending them to sleep with the fishes.

"Jump Or Be Sane" bounces up next like some bastard offspring of Hole and No Doubt with its rock/ska beat. Not very pretty, to be honest. The piano-backed "My Selfish Gene" is somewhere between emotion-wracked and histrionic, but is on the whole successful. Last up is the Luca Brasi mix of "I Am The Mob", turning the original into something sounding uncannily like Black Grape on helium.

Rating: 7/10

"Urge" by The Wildhearts

Lets close with some mad metal mayhem. Not as anthemic as "Anthem", "Urge" is almost a ballad in comparison, but a ballad that has been treated with the wire brush and Dettol along the way. In doing so however, those crazy Wildhearts boys have scrubbed off the tune. Nevertheless, this has scientifically been proven to be exactly what the inside to Trent Reznor's head sounds like.

"Fugazi (Do The Fake)" scurries up next, a run-of-the-mill indiesong coated in sheet metal and issuing sparks faster than a welder chewing a box of matches. The gentle acoustic ballad "Kill Me To Death" is last, and is a cover of the Elton John classic.

Rating: 5/10

HeadCleaner Back to HeadCleaner...