Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha [Parlophone; 24/3/2008]Easily one of my most anticipated releases in recent times, I won't hide my subjectivity, the grasses fifth album blew me away, it came at a particular time just after I had gotten familiar with a fair amount of their material and it was just brilliance. It was a record that grasped a sound they hadn't fully ventured yet and between then and now my fingers were crossed in hoping Mr Coombes could follow up that sound and continue to blow me away. As cliched as it gets, all good things must come to an end.
I heard the single "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" and went numb, it's not that it wasn't cool it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Still then my fingers remained crossed for the arrival of the whole album. A few songs into album number six and it's becomes clear that not only have the boys bypassed the sounds of their previous effort but they have completely gone back to basics and kind of re-invented themselves, if you want to call it that. If anything Gaz had loaded up his record player with T Rex, Roxy Music and Bowie albums and that clearly shows, this album portrays a very glam like presence with a squeaky clean production to add.
"Diamond Hoo Ha Man", "Bad Blood", "345", "Outside" are the simple but fun glam rock and roll numbers. "Rebel in You" and "Ghost of a Friend" provide the pop flavour and the only real progression the album takes, is with the closer "Butterfly" and possibly "Whiskey and Green Tea" with its avant-garde like brass section roaming about the track. Don't get me wrong it's still a fun rock record and can be enjoyed on maximum volume of your surround sound system, but really at the end of the day it's a real slide in form from the trip they had taken us on with Road to Rouen.
Sean.
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