Black Affair could accurately describe the content of Boys outside. Masons mental state is mined throughout  for lyrics such as, Am I Just A Mans ‘And there’s a darkness that persists through all of this, and though I try to keep a light on it exists’. Those looking for an instant Beta Band fix will be perhaps disappointed. The production is by Richard X, more usually associated with the likes of The Sugarbabes. It’s a sparse sound with clean pop beats and Masons bruised vocals pushed front and centre where as before they would be buried in The Beta Band’s pastoral, hip hop soup.

It’s a good, good album. Interesting if not always enjoyable as Mason lays himself bare. This is soul music of the darkest kind.

7/10

2 years later, MOJO staff in Leeds were astonished to find the Band’s tour manager on the phone asking if they could play a gig at the bar. They had a free night due to an illness and cancelled gig by Counting Crows whom they were supporting. Rather than sit idly they rushed north to Leeds to play a free show. All who attended will attest to the brilliance of that impromptu gig.

You’ll find much is the same on the new record. Lyrically as literate as ever thanks to Craig Finns erudite scribbling on life and love and raconteurism. The major changes in sound have been forced upon the album by the departure of keyboardist Franz Nicolay and rather than replace him they’ve left the spaces he used to fill free of sound. This lessons the e-streetness of their sound but the touchstones are still seventies rock. Drifting melodically toward Todd Rundgren and Cheap trick. It’s superior MOR really and worthy of your attention.

7/10

Well my hope is shifting to the imminent Exile on Main street deluxe release as this is a disappointment.

There are bloated or just plain flat  versions of classic album tracks, Red house and Fire for instance that offering nothing new or of note over their original forms. There are studio/rehearsal cuts of Creams Sunshine of your Love and Elmore James Bleedin’ Heart the latter being the more impressive but neither impressing overly.

The main attraction are four unheard tunes of which only the title track leaves a lasting impression and even then it’s a rather formless unfocused one.

So without Hendrix being able to shed his magnificent grace down upon these tunes you are left somewhat unsated by what’s been served up. The hope therefore for the Chateaux Nelcote sessions is that the Stones are (just)about around enough to nurse them to form.

4/10

After a three album clutch had generated  next big thing accolades an ‘Indie’ tag but modes sales the brothers retreated disbanded and made solo albums to clear the air.

The resultant double album is anything but Indie. It’s filled (20 tracks) with an engaging flight through the clever, clever side of British  psyche pop, prog and village green era kinks. The spirits of XTC, ELO, Wings and a sprinkling of Yes are evident throughout.

So yes, it’s a prog referencing double album but it’s never self indulgent. The proggy elements are ever shifting time signatures rather than un-needed 14 minute harp solos. It’s all tied down with a laser like pop sensibility that makes every track never less than interesting.

There is the odd failure bit with 20 tracks to play with it’s easier to forgive.

7/10

Kasabian have unfortunately always been lumped in with the ladish/madchester scene; a pigeon hole which has hindered their musical efforts being taken as seriously as deserved.

‘West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum’, the group’s most conceptual work to date, will hopefully put all doubts to rest that the band are anything other than a stone roses re-hash, and push them towards a more appropriate fanbase.

The album has a wide range of musical genres.  Songs such as ‘Swarfiga’ and the title track give evidence to a heavy degree of Pink Floydian influence, a welcome blend with Kasabian’s recognizable dark electronica tone.  Whereas ‘Thick As Thieves’  breaks new ground for the band, taking us to the other end of the musical spectrum in it’s folky psychadelic journey around some gypsy wonderland.

For fans of previous album stompers such as ‘Shoot the Runner’ and ‘Club Foot’, look no further than the chunky bass driven ‘Fast Fuse’. A musical monster with a pace and attitude that wouldn’t sit out of place onboard a chopper going into Nam’.

Then there’s the anthemic‘Fire’, the album’s first ‘real’ single, (‘Vlad the Impaler’ was available via download), which delivers the soul tearing choruses we know, love and have come to expect from Kasabian.

WRPLA binds all these elements together to create a Frankenstein. Each sound contributes to creating a very well produced album that should see Kasabian receiving the recognition they deserve. 

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‘Thanks for the help Garvey but we’re ok, Ta’ 

We are in familiar Dove Territory here with recognisable Melodies and chiming guitars lying around all over the place. Things have moved on though.

Opener, Jet stream feels like the biggest shift from home here hinting at Sub Sub days with urgent beats driving it on, whilst they sound like they’ve  swallowed Grace Jones bass player on Compulsion (in a good way).

Title track Kingdom of rust sounds like it was written for a Pennines set western, a lovely Shuffling Lancastrian Mariachi of a thing.

So it’s more of the same. But different. Doves music still evokes the same stuff it always has, wide open spaces and a kind of bleak Euphoria but there is a constant forward movement to make them forever interesting. Excellent.

7/10

If you are interested at all by late 60’s, early 70’s American rock or the lineage that leads from Buffalo Springfield, Neil Young and the Byrd’s through to modern country rock then this is an important purchase.

Highlights include opener Song of Love, Rock and Roll Crazies and the epic Treasure.

If there had been any concern from fans that the announcement of a solo project meant Auer Bach had a Disco record inside him that had been straight jacketed by his day job, they need not worry. There are plaintive ballads, Trouble ways a Ton, but second track, I want some more and later on, The prowl, leave us in familiar territory with Auerbachs’ howling vocal and a chugging blues Rhythm.

Not a large musical leap in any direction but a more subtle Black Keys set. Singular.

Things change pace thereafter  and a cocktail of different influences raise their heads. The Cureish baselines and well judged arrangements and instrumentation continue as different era’s compete for attention. A bit of Byrds/Jefferson Airplane here, some Talking Heads art school oddness there, with some gorgeous REM like backing vocals thrown in for good measure. But it wears it’s influences lightly. It’s respectful nods all round. 

Slap bang in the middle are two tunes that weave their way along with changes in pace and different movements. I was initially resistant to their charms but was eventually won over by the gorgeous breakdown and change of vocal in the last couple of minutes of Momentary Sanctuary. 

A confident, modern debut then, bristling with energy and ideas. And loads of great pop songs.

From me that’s a well earnt 8.5/10

So it’s synths and bass lines to the fore with guitars coming in to emphasise a point rather than leading the dance. Title track, To Lose my Life deserves to be a huge hit but E.S.T. Fifty on Our Foreheads and Death are equally good.

Derivative? Certainly, but absorbing none the less.

7.5/10