8 / 10
Every day is a wonder, every slip is a crisis. That Joe McAlinden has survived this long without experiencing emotional meltdown is one of many miracles about Superstar. Another is that they continue to get money to make records. A third is that those records continue not to sell.
A survivor of the Glasgow C86 scene, McAlinden's flame has burned slowly over the years while nominally brighter sparks burned out. 'Phat Dat' marks another stage in the unfolding of the Superstar masterplan. If you thought their last album, 'Palm Tree', marked the apex of indie-pop grandiosity, then prepare to be dumbstruck.
As McAlinden's voice makes the journey from anguished whisper to tremulous, strangulated scream on the extraordinary 'Someone's Watching Over Me', Superstar have upped the ante once more.
'Phat Dat' is manic. Skewered by the ley-line that links Radiohead with the Beach Boys, 'More' and 'These Little Things' would be pompous but for the unflinching conviction of Superstar's delivery. They also sound like Queen sometimes. Cool or what?
Like his musical forebear Jimmy Webb, McAlinden's songs are huge and tormented without becoming oppressive and turgid. The white-knuckle ride from trauma to tragedy goes on - ultimately, nobody overdoes it better.
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