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In It For The Money (Parlophone, 1997) is a decent follow-up, that
runs the gamut from glam (Late In The Day is basically a reworking of
Bowie's Velvet Goldmine) to hard-rock (Richard III). It includes
Going Out (perhaps their masterpiece) and
Sun Hits The Sky.
Supergrass (Parlophone, 1999) cannot avoid the Brit-pop syndrome.
Brit-poppers tend to evolve towards a more and more refined style and
eventually sink under the weight of their arrangements. The Supergrass
prove that the disease is contagious. Their teen spirit survives in a
syncopated soul-jazz number (Mary) and a mod-rock number
(Beautiful People), but capitulates to the
orchestral epos of Moving (that sounds very much like Roxy Music) and
to the Phil Spector-ish wall of sound of the country shuffle
Your Love.
Jesus Came From Outta Space, Pumping On Your Stereo and
Faraway are, de facto, tributes to three different stages
of Bowie's career.
Worse: too many of these (mainly) slow songs sound like
John Lennon's soporific ballads.
The new album is as much an encyclopedia of melody as the previous ones,
but the band has lost of the spontaneous, noisy, jovial approach that made
it different. As pop goes, the Supergrass now inhabit the adult, languid
land, as opposed to the
Life On Other Planets (Parlophone, 2002 - Island, 2003)
contains Za (the first of three inane songs that pay tribute to T.Rex,
the others being Seen The Light and Brecon Beacons),
and the singles Grace and Never Done Nothing Like That Before
(that recalls the Kinks).
All of their albums manage to be irritating by the time you finish them
(if you can make it to the end), but this one is built on the program of
irritating intelligent listeners.
The Best of 94-04 (Capitol, 2004) is an anthology of the hits.
Road to Rouen (Capitol, 2005) is another hodge-podge of styles
dressed up by all the possible cliches of pop arrangement, except that
this time the band exceeded all previous pretentiousness by stretching
songs with instrumental preludes and codas that borrowed from the history
of orchestral pop.
No song stands out on Diamond Hoo Ha (Capitol, 2008), the typical
embarrassment by middle-aged musicians who try to sound like they are still
teenagers. It's hard to believe that anyone would listen twice to
Diamond Hoo Ha Man
or
345 (to name the best of the bunch).
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Daniele Meneghel)
In It For The Money (Parlophone, 1997) è un onesto seguito, che passa tutti i generi dal glam (Late In The Day è fondamentalmente un riadattamento di Velvet Goldmine di David Bowie) all' hard-rock (Richard III). Contiene Going Out ( forse il loro capolavoro) e Sun Hits The Sky.
Supergrass (Parlophone, 1999) non riesce ad evitare la sindrome del Brit-pop. I Brit-poppers tendono ad evolversi verso uno stile sempre più ricercato ed alla fine affondano sotto il peso dei loro arrangiamenti. I Supergrass dimostrano che la malattia è contagiosa. Il loro spirito giovane sopravvive in un pezzo di soul-jazz sincopato (Mary) e un brano di mod-rock (Beautiful People), ma si arrende all'orchestrale Moving (che ricorda molto Roxy Music) e al muro di suono philspectoriano della strascicata country Your Love. Jesus Came From Outta Space, Pumping On Your Stereo e Faraway sono, di fatto, dei tributi a tre diverse fasi della carriera di Bowie. Peggio: troppe di queste (principalmente) lente canzoni somigliano alle ballate soporifere di John Lennon. Il nuovo album è un enciclopedia melodica tanto quanto i precedenti, ma la band ha perso quell'approccio spontaneo, rumoroso, gioviale, che la rendeva differente.
Life On Other Planets (Parlophone, 2002 - Island, 2003) contiene Za (la prima di tre banali canzoni che pagano tributo ai T.Rex, le altre sono Seen The Light e Brecon Beacons), e i singoli Grace e Never Done Nothing Like That Before (che richiama i Kinks). Tutti i loro album riescono ad essere irritanti al momento che hai finito di ascoltarli (se ce la fai fino alla fine), ma questo è costruito col programma di irritare gli ascoltatori intelligenti.
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