I haven't heard Supergrass's latest album, "Diamond Hoo Ha", and I'm not sure I will, given the way it has been trumped as a return to the band's "mischievous", "playful" roots (Amazon) after the more contemplative and mature fifth album "Road to Rouen". This kind of welcome entirely mirrors the reception of the band's fourth effort, "Life on Other Planets" which was also seen as a back-to-basics, exuberant romp after the melancholic excesses of the overly-serious third eponymous album. Such viewpoints, which have widely achieved consensus amongst the music press are to my mind entirely inaccurate. Life on Other Planets was Supergrass's first poor album; flimsy, cartoonish and lacking the melodic depth and effortless drive of their previous albums."Supergrass" the third album has to be one of the most underrated albums of the 90s (even Gaz Coombes now dismisses it). It is a beautifully crafted, mesmerisingly inventive work. No tune so instantly pins me down to a time and place of my life as does "Moving". "What Went Wrong In Your Head", seems to start half way through the song, yet never looks back, a blistering slice of rock n roll. "Mary" is simply stunning in its structure and poise, equalled two albums later by the majestic "Roxy". However, the album did not sell as well as the previous efforts and as a result faced a backlash, and began to be looked upon as dour and pretentious, prompting the lightweight fourth release.
Road to Rouen has similarly been labelled conservative and mature, yet again I would simply call it a great album; ambitious, refined and hypnotic, with harmonies recalling the Beatles at their very best. Of course, all the critics who label their masterful debut album, "I Should Coco", as the ultimate cheeky, feel-good Brit-pop album and lament the lack of its joie de vivre on later offerings are missing the point. I Should Coco was indeed a joyous affair but it was also a stunningly accomplished and complex record which completely belied their teenage years. "Sofa of my Lethargy" recalls Dylan at his prime, "Time" boasts gorgeous vocals over muscular riffs and perfect production values, even "Caught by the Fuzz", the ultimate homage to adolescent folly, is underlined by delightful harmonies and vigorous guitar-work. It shouldn't have been a surprise then, when "In It For the Money" followed and left most critics on their backs; a swaggering, sophisticated classic, 12 great songs one after the other. As a contemporary NME journalist said at the time, Richard III should have been Britain's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", but somehow the Supergrass boys just seemed a little too good-natured and unassuming for all that adulation.
So if anyone's reading this and has a copy of "Diamond Hoo Ha" do let me know what it's like, but from what I've read I can't help thinking it's all too likely to follow Life on Other Planet's foray into disappointing territory. For the fourth album sounds like an attempt to capture a delinquency of the first album that never actually existed - and in doing so bypasses all of its splendour.
Roxy - Supergrass (from Road to Rouen)
