Up at the Lake

The Charlatans

To Be Honest: With dancey guitar music grabbing the headlines - Franz Ferdinand, The Zutons - it's a good time for The Charlatans to return and show the young-uns a thing or two. They've been working groovy guitar riffs for years, and while this could be their most 'sophisticated' record to date, you still know that it'll sound best on ecstasy.
Take the floor-filler title track. It's about a 'leprechaun', has an absolutely corking riff and a gigantic, bouncy chorus. It's The Charlatans doing The Charlatans, only better.
What's most impressive about them these days though, is how accomplished they are at simple, Beatlesy, pop melodies. Even 'Dead Love' has a hook so catchy you can't help feeling great about the misery.
Best of the bunch, and a case in point is 'Blue For You'. A heartache anthem, it swaggers around Manc-style for a while, but then signs off with a glorious outro of harmonies which shows how rounded a group they've become. That's rounded like the Beach Boys, not the Fat Boys.

Listen out for: 'Feel The Pressure', on which Tim Burgess starts grunting like a dancing David Brent.

Play: While shaking your head around and grinning like a loved-up lunatic, possibly on something.