It begins, as it must, with a tell-all confessional about the old days (‘Every Inch Of You’), that reminisces about their stratospheric rise (“Seas of sleeveless T-shirts/And queues around the block”), then explodes into life with Justin Hawkins screeching “SUCK MY COOOOOCK!” As it always, always was in Darkness world, self-pity is laced with penis jokes, and soundtracked by the sort of bouncing AC/DC riffs that everyone thinks are ironic these days. Nothing has changed, except the world’s perception of them. Now they are sober, and not in everyone’s face all the time, so we can all take them in the good-natured, fun spirit in which they were always intended. They have a song here called ‘Everybody Have A Good Time’ which sounds EXACTLY how you would expect it to. Ditto ‘Living Each Day Blind’ (“Leave our mediocre lives behind”), ditto ‘With A Woman’. Plus they get bonus points for finally recording their ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ cover, just because it’ll get right up the noses of the Radiohead snobs.
Hamish MacBain