REVIEW: Charlatans UK, Tellin Stories (MCA)

- Tim Kennedy

The Charlatans and I go back a long way. This is not an unbiased review, because after about 8 years of disillusionment with rock music, I went to see their awe-inspiring live show in March '90. Then they were a total 1967 freakout, with oil light backdrop, and a sound that was like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, but with a dancefloor sensibility that was obviously missing from the work of El Syd.

They dared to do long instrumentals, and created uplifting, yet at times threatening soundscapes. It's hard to believe an eerie atmospheric nine minute number like "Sproston Green" was actually about a young lady from a little farming village in the rural north west of England.

I saw them two months before I saw the Stone Roses show at Spike Island, Merseyside. Live, at that time, the Roses weren't in the same league. Not only could Tim Burgess sing, but the classic Hammond sound made this band truly special.

To the music fan who never saw them then as I did but who heard the records, this sounds no doubt like hyperbole. Yet they really were that good. I actually think the best recording of the band was a John Peel session they did at the time - featuring notably "Polar Bear", "Then", and "The Only One I Know".

And now we have this album, which is the truly gifted Rob Collins' epitaph- Rob having met the reaper after a car crash some months ago.

Now the Charlies have gone bluesy, just like their forefathers of '67 did after all the acid wore off. The voice sounds odd in the context of those dirty guitars, like a child as ever. And therein may lie one reason for their survival seven years on - Tim still looks younger than most of the audience.

The only keyboard tracks they have used is that which remains from Rob's last work, so a lot of it sounds like there is something missing. Most eerie of all is the use of recordings of Rob as a child which feature on "Rob's Theme" - a superfly instrumental which he contributed during sessions for the album.

This album features elements of their old sound - the building crescendo of sound, often based on minimal chord-changes, but giving a feel which is warm, and generous. The lyrics are no longer childish ("I want to bomb your submarine" and "have you seen my Polar Bear?" blessed the early set). Now Tim frequently relies on fairly hackneyed good-time cliches from the sixties. But they were never a serious lyric band anyway. The band they obviously take their cue from now is not the Strawberry Alarm Clock, but The Stones. Dylan crops up in the lyrics a lot - one of the songs is even entitled "You're A Big Girl Now". Another song recalls Free.

This album is best listened to loud and in your car, or even better at a club where you can have a good dance. It is moving and it will move you.