August 7, 1999

Shack : Natalie's party

It's crushing that four men in their 30s with nearly two decades' recording experience behind them are the most exciting, youthful and refreshing guitar group in the country right now

It's crushing that four men in their 30s with nearly two decades' recording experience behind them are the most exciting, youthful
and
refreshing guitar group in the country right now, but them's the facts. Nobody writes more affecting songs than Mick Head and nobody invests the same wit and vim in their music as his group. Just about everyone else is a muppet in comparison.

So why not buy their records, eh? Buy this single. In fact, buy
both
versions and you'll get four B-sides that are better than any
A-side
reviewed elsewhere on this page (Puffy excluded, natch). The A-side is an anthemic rootsy ode to an evening of debauchery in the country, one of those nights where you travel so far out of it, you actually arrive at a point of clarity.

"We're in deep, we're inside", sings Mick, a perfectly-pitched Scouse ray of light, "but I like the things we do". And we do too, we love it.

Ted Kessler