REVIEW: The Bluetones, Return To The Last Chance Saloon (A&M U.K.)
- Simon West
The Bluetones rode the Britpop wave to the top in their native England, releasing a series of bright, poppy singles, notably the excellent "Bluetonic" and "Slight Return". The debut album, Expecting To Fly, was also quite good, rather Stone Roses influenced, and occasionally let down by Mark Morriss's rather underpowered singing style, but decent second division stuff.
Many of the Britpop bands of two or three years ago have fallen by the wayside now, but The Bluetones return with their long-delayed second long-player. Worth the wait? Just about.
It's pleasant enough stuff, and the style has progressed - a lot louder, a little more experimentation. The album kicks off with the tribal, vaguely Adam & The Ants style drumbeat of "Tone Blooze", a two minute western instrumental that blends into the equally western sounding "Unpainted Arizona". Oasis have already ventured down this trail with "Fade In/Out", and unlike Liam Gallagher, Mark Morriss' voice really isn't suited to it. "Solomon Bites The Worm", a bluesy rocker, starts off with Mariachi-style cries and yelps and then Morriss wanders in, and the vocal still doesn't really match the style, but the song's strong enough to pull it off.
There are some good songs here. "Sleazy Bed Track" starts out as a nice little ballad before grinding unexpectedly into a brash chorus that has Morriss suggesting "all you've gotta do is baby kick off your shoes/And lay down," which would sound a little more natural in almost any context other than a Bluetones song, but works all the same. "If" is probably the best track here. An infectious bassline thumps up and down a scale accompanied by a scratchy guitar riff. "It's all I can do to/Sing these stupid songs to you" sings Morriss, bravely, and goes into some classic "na-na-na" action. It's great. "The Jub Jub Bird" is another good one - a heavy guitar rocker - traces of Zeppelin or Second Coming period Stone Roses, plus a thrashing middle bit and a great vocal.
Much of the rest however, particularly on the latter half of the album, is simply unremarkable, inoffensive stuff you'd be hard pushed to remember an hour after you'd heard it. The tempo and structure don't change around much - it just doesn't really go anywhere.
Still, a decent follow-up, and a reasonable evolution from the debut, but as a whole, it's rather unaffecting - it's difficult to imagine anyone being overwhelmed by the urge to stick it on the stereo. Existing fans should be happy enough, but The Bluetones have yet to fulfill the potential they seem to be capable of.
