Some bands merely have to be in the same room together at the same time in order for something magical to happen. The Charlatans are one of those bands and "Impossible" is one of those magical things. Tim Burgess has a voice that embodies pouting lips and hooded eyelids, and the rest of the band provide sonic make-up to this natural beauty, creating something stunning - a band that deserve a thousand hits. "Impossible" sees the boys joyriding down the Mississippi in a stolen paddle steamer, acoustic guitar and harmonica swarming around them like fireflies as the sun plink plink fizzes into the water like an Alka-Seltzer, whilst the likes of Gomez desperately try to keep afloat in their wake. Impossibly gorgeous, and that's just Tim on the cover.
"Don't Go Giving It Up" pulls on its Baggy trousers and struts around with an altogether more cocky swagger. "All you yin yang people, don't go giving it up; all you honky-tonk people, don't go giving it up; all you kick-ass people, don't..." - well, you get the idea. A rallying call for the chemical generation, it strikes a chord that similar bands couldn't even get their fingers round.
"Impossible (Aim Remix)" follows, transporting the original from the Mississippi to the Ganges, by way of some gentle Eastern-tinged ambient sounds layered on top like angel delight. Mellow, yellow and impossible not to love.
The Charlatans - one of the least fake bands around, and I love 'em.
Rating: 10/10
The Rest
If The Charlatans provide music for angels to weep softly to, Dubstar provide the soundtrack to those moments when they need to wipe your noses on their sleeves. Experts of kitsch-en sink dramas set to an upbeat and quirky musical backing, Dubstar are the Coronation Street to The Charlatans' Champs Elysees. Nevertheless, not everyone can reach up and pluck petals off heaven's roses, and Dubstar can find almost as much to love by casting their eyes gutterward instead. "So it's Friday night, my favourite time, I'm thinking back to when you were mine" go the kind of lyrics that Steps would pay good money for, leading up to a chorus so infectious they should give out injections against it on the NHS. Classic indie jangling guitar, aloof female vocals, tarnished beauty - a fake diamond glinting in a puddle.
The only real trouble with Dubstar is that they suffer a bit from All Their Songs Sound The Same Syndrome, and "I Lost A Friend" treads a similar - though less upbeat - street round the back of the gasworks, although taken on its own it has as much proud smeared-mascara beauty as "I (Friday Night)".
"Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton" takes The Smiths out for a walk through the suburbs in the rain, being a shimmering and quietly epic love song ("Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - it's me and you, me and you") that almost treads into Travis territory with its gentleness and charm.
Rating: 7/10
Because she wants to. I would lay good money on Lolly being remarketed as a leather-clad Valkyrie dominatrix from hell the day she turns sixteen, as effectively that's what happened to little Billie (Ms Piper to you). Now she's past the age of consent, she's jutting her best pvc-clad bits forward and trying to outdo Britney (you mad fool, Piper) with a massively produced pop song that tries to shoot the moon from the sky. It only just misses, mark you, and "Day And Night" is pretty impressive chart fodder that kids the land over (and me) will love. And where's the harm in that...
Remixes are what you get on the b-side: the "Almighty Club Mix" which bounces around handbag house land like Kylie on a kangaroo; and "Robbie Riviera's Bombastic Vocal Mix" which is slightly more mature, tied to a pumping house beat and stretched to within an inch of its original existence.
The video is also included, which looks like every teen queen pop vid ever all rolled into one. Which is no bad thing at all.
Rating: 6/10
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