As has been threatened by EMI’s head honcho, Guy Hands, we’re looking at a future of market-tested albums made by bands who’ve been handpicked by people better suited to spotting share options than musical talent that’s potentially popular and – important this bit – progressive, or at the very least, actually any good. Going by the considerable success of their debut album, ‘Costello Music’, The Fratellis might just be the template for the indie division of this brave new world.
Kill us now, then. The Fratellis will probably say that they’ve thought outside of the box on this second album of commodity-rock. They’ve dropped the nagging du-durr-durr-durrs (swapping them for ah-ah-ahhhs), added Bowie and Dylan (like, kerayzee) to a stodgy diet of Slade, Oasis and, um, The Supernaturals, and they attempt to rock out, White Stripes-style, at the start of ‘Tell Me A Lie’. Only a millisecond, mind. Anything that’s not conservative and dull would be way too risky and spook their imagined demographic. So they mostly plod on, their attempts at making strutting, sexy rock ’n’ roll about as successful as Fray Bentos going gourmet.
