ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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The Charlatans
YOU CROSS MY PATH COOKING VINYL 12.5.08 @www.vanguard-online.co.uk ‘You Cross My Path’ is the 10th studio album released by The Charlatans since their debut in 1990 with a release from a band that seems to have found their place in the annals of 90’s music’s pioneers alongside the likes of Oasis and Primal Scream. The album is around 40 minutes of infectious grooves that never loses pace and delivers lyrics with deeper meaning that reveal themselves instantly even on the first casual listen and it’s this casual manner which is its appeal. ‘Oh! Vanity’ opens the album and could well be Bernard Sumner standing in for Tim Burgess on vocals and you have to admire their ability to get schizophrenic into a tune with very little rhythmic shoe horning. ‘Bad Days’ threads a bass line and vocals depicting a story of isolation, broken dreams and broken friendships. The songs are kept short and catchy, rattling through electro-synch tracks like ‘Mis-takes’, ‘The Misbegotten’ and ‘A Day For Letting Go’ with the latter being a brief affair at only 2 minutes 49, you could never accuse The Charlatans of ever experimenting with Prog Rock! ‘A day for letting go’ is the best track of the album peaking midway through the album and leads onto more of the same with ‘You Cross My Path’, ‘Missing Beats (Of A Generation)’ and ‘My Name Is Despair’ that allow Burgess to express his deepest darkest desires and feelings. The album rapidly progresses though ‘Bird/Reprise’ and ‘This Is The End’ to its rather early conclusion but this isn’t a disappointment and doesn’t over burden the listener, allowing the option to return for a second helping. I was aware of The Charlatan in their commercial hey day and appreciated their efforts in what I perceived as the resurgence of real music but I never really listened to them until now. This album has been available on free download from the XFM website since March and from reports, it seems to have struck a cord with existing fans and you could do much worse in getting a copy of this album and support (musically if not financially) a band that can still deliver 18 years on. www.thecharlatans.net |