7th December, 1998


And I thought all the great singles had been released already this year...
Have you voted in our end of year poll yet?

Single of the Week

"Shorley Wall" by Ooberman

An astoundingly delicate and fragile sound emanates from the title track of this EP (7 tracks - no Gallup concessionary behaviour from this lot), which floats past on harmonious angel wings, interspersed with more earthly - but just as effective - spoken bits. The end result is a lush and dramatic song, male and female vocals competing with each other to sparkle the most, and is one of the best singles of the year.

A seven-track - this makes my job tricky..."Today's The Day Part I" is a small instrumental doodle, paving the way for the glitzy glam punk pop of "Serotonin Smile", like T Rex crossed with Pavement, joined together with a spark of originality that only Ooberman could ignite. "A Place I Call Home" is another short track, gentle acoustics and fey vocals summoning up the unwelcome spirit of Belle And Sebastian, but "Why Did My Igloo Collapse?" is far superior, containing a gorgeous Galaxie 500 style chorus that melts in your mouth and not in your hand, and which explodes into a fun-packed chorus filled with vocal hooks and amusingly inane lyrics ("me, I'm going sledging").

"Live Again (Don't Die Father)" slows the pace down somewhat with its Eels-like paean to mortality, a gentle and crystalline gelling of guitars and vocal harmonies, before the EP closes with the effecting "Honeydew", a spoken word track over a piano abstraction that strays close to Arab Strap territory, but not too close. Its tale of Watership Down-like sadness and allegory is not one to listen to before going out on a Friday night, but you should hear it.

Gentle without whimsy, intelligent without being smug: Ooberman are my new favourite band.

Rating: 10/10

The Rest

"Lotus" by R.E.M.

After the relative disappointment of their last single, "Lotus" sees the band back on absolute top form with a psychedelic and gut-churning blast through your senses that would put bands half their age to shame. Perhaps the closest that Stipe has let us to the inside of his head for quite some time, the single takes a little while to get going, smouldering along happily until it burns your eyes out.

"Surfing The Ganges" follows, and rather pedantically is a 60s style surf instrumental played on sitar-like guitar. These REM boys - not as obtuse as everyone says, y'know. The "Weird Mix" of "Lotus" closes proceedings, and is the definitive version - the bad to the a-side's good trip. Beginnning with headache-inducing bass and vocals, guitar screeches and synth sounds slowly envelop the mix, culminating in something that has you reeling and afraid to go to sleep.

9/10

"To You I Belong" by B*Witched

I saw the blond bloke from Steps on telly the other day, breathlessly exclaiming that "pop was back!". He may just be right. This is the one I'd like to see atop the Christmas top 40 come the 25th. Regular readers will know I'm a sucker for these big lush pop things that would more comfortably sit in the pages of Smash Hits (some regular readers usually get pissed off that I spend time reviewing them, but some regular readers should calm down a bit...) Anyhew, "To You I Belong" is an uplifting and shimmering thing of some loveliness, with the girls' trademark Irish sounds woven into it. Beats the hell out of the bloody Corrs anyway.

The b-sides fare less well, with "Fly Away" sounding like The Bloody Corrs on helium, whilst I defy anyone to listen to "B*Witched's Message To Santa" more than once, sounding as it does like four over-excited Irish chipmunks who've drunk one too many cans of coke.

Just be thankful I never bought Billie's single this week...

Rating: 9/10

"Tropicala" by Beck

If it wasn't for Beck, we would never have heard the pounding Miami Surreal Machine madness that is "Tropicala" and we would all be much worse off. If a genius is someone who arises above their peers and is influenced by no-one, Beck is up there with Einstein, and if he ever stops producing addictively anarchic music such as this then the world will be a darker place. "Tropicala" is right up there with songs such as "New Pollution" as one of the man's finest and - despite its Warner Bros type sound effects - is one of his most accessible to date.

"Halo Of Gold" is also mighty fine, a poppy bass-led jingle with music-box guitar and lazy vocals, that veers off on a tangent during the chorus into Beatles psychedelic territory. "Black Balloon" is plain funky, its seventies style guitar providing a soundtrack to an imaginary spy series, which if Beck had anything to do with it, would make The Prisoner look positively sensible.

Rating: 9/10

"Dumb" by The Beautiful South

Critics fave TBS tempt fate by releasing a single with this title, but "Dumb" proves to be up to their usual standard of mainstream cynicism and subversive mass-appeal. A heartfelt and only slightly left-of-centre love song, the single slinks along seductively and attractively, Heaton's vocals off-setting a tune that lacks for nothing in the melody department. Perhaps the music press can't deal with the fact real people like The Beautiful South for the incisive and moving slices of life they write so effortlessly, but ignore this band and you're missing out on some pretty special songs.

"Suck Harder" is the first b-side, a moving but bitter track about settling for second best, that follows you around like a wino, uncomfortably reminding you of your own life. Then the good old East Yorkshire Motor Services Band cover "Blackbird On A Wire" in brass, closing things off with a smile.

Rating: 8/10

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