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Road To Rouen
(2005/EMI/Parlophone) |
The Japanese sleeve inlay to this fifth
Supergrass album proclaims in pretty yellow letters over a photo of a grubby looking band, "What's Happen To Supergrass?" and fans might well ask. It starts well enough with the Beach Boys-meets-Bowie drift&stomp of
Tales Of Endurance (Parts 4,5 & 6), and in fact
Road To Rouen is consistent in its delivery of tunes, largely born from a kind of
Rubber Soul era Beatles mould, with songs like
Sad Girl and
Fin (haven't
Supergrass just made a career out of ripping off
In My Life?). However, where songs like
Roxy aspire towards something tragic and affecting, the band just can't seem to muster up the energy to care. Similarly while the title track makes for a fairly convincing funky Bowie sort of thing, it just lacks the spark that propelled their first two albums and the best moments of the last two into the realm of something special.
Supergrass are still a good band with a seemingly neverending pot of generally retro but still distinctive songs, but unless they start putting their hearts into it again, they're dooming themselves to premature old age.
-Ian Martin, Oct.27.05.
