Reviewed by Guy Walsh

OK, OK... so orignially I was sceptical about this album, there's no All I Want To Do Is Rock or Happy, and Writing to Reach You and Driftwood are effectively the same song. BUT it's still a good album - I know I originally said it was rubbish but I can see clearly now my rock hangups are gone (wasn't that a song?!?).

Everybody knows, and loves, the two singles from the album so far, and Why Does It Always Rain On Me is going to be a smash hit as well. These songs really do set the standard for the rest of the album. The Man Who is a record which really grows on you with every listen. The amazing Turn is not a lyrical masterpiece, at least not in the chorus, but shows how the band have matured musically since Good Feeling and for me personally was the biggest grower on the album.

This album took me 6 or 7 listens to really get into, although it's not left my CD player since. Fran claims to have grown up, not wanting to rock any more and prefering to put pure emotion into his songs. The blatent love song Luv is an example of this although sounding mysteriously like the Beatles' early work. This is not a critisism of course. However, what is a critisism is the fact that the whole album sounds a lot like Radiohead. Granted it's a dramatic improvement on Radiohead, but it's not all 100% original. She's So Strange is a nothing song, starting off slowly, continuing slowly, and err, not actually getting going at all. It starts off nowhere, goes nowhere, and finishes, er, nowhere.

The hidden track is the nearest thing to anything that rocks, and sounds like Radiohead's best with a bit of Suede thrown in. It's a welcome shock to the system. The Fear is one of those songs that rings in your head forever after, a haunting melody complemented by Fran's voice. Slide Show concludes the album and is a morbid look at reality: