Tearing by at a breakneck speed, I Should Coco is a spectacularly eclectic debut by Supergrass, a trio barely out of their teens. Sure, the unbridled energy of the album illustrates that the band is young, yet what really illustrates how young the bandmembers are is how they borrow from their predecessors. Supergrass treat the Buzzcocks, the Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Blur, and Madness as if they were all the same thing -- they don't make any distinction between what is cool and what isn't, they just throw everything together. Consequently, the jittery "Caught by the Fuzz" slams next to the music hall rave-up "Mansize Rooster," the trippy psychedelia of "Sofa (Of My Lethargy)," the heavy stomp of "Lenny," and the bona fide anthem "Alright." I Should Coco is the sound of adolescence, but performed with a surprising musical versatility that makes the record's exuberant energy all the more infectious.
Since they had a lower profile than their peers and came across as a bunch of mates instead of serious musicians, Supergrass tended to be the most overlooked of all the major Britpop bands. They never defined the culture like Oasis or Blur, never had a following of serious-minded, clever misfits like Pulp, they weren't as sexy as Elastica, and they surely lacked the grandiose, doomed romanticism of Suede. What they were, though, was a bloody brilliant pop band. Their 1995 debut, I Should Coco, kicked harder than any record that year, and it had a bigger stylistic sprawl than any album this side of The Great Escape, which it trumped with a deliriously infectious enthusiasm -- and it was all the more impressive when the fact that Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey were still in their teens when the cut the album. They matured at a rapid rate, refining their musicality with each of their next three records, but they never had center stage again like they did with I Should Coco. As they worked outside of the spotlight, they developed into a remarkably consistent singles band, as the generous 21 track 2004 collection Supergrass Is 10: The Best of 94-04 proves. Even their muddled eponymous third album sounds brilliant when distilled to the sweetly gorgeous "Moving" and the ridiculously intoxicating "Pumping on Your Stereo." These tunes are thrown together in a nonchronological order that contains all the A-sides apart from the U.S. radio single "Cheapskate" and the movie soundtrack selection "We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give)." Instead of being infuriating, this nonchronological sequencing reveals just how consistent Supergrass had been over the decade, since it forces the listener to concentrate on each individual song. Like Green Day's hits compilation International Superhits!, Supergrass Is 10 is a revelation for anybody who hasn't been paying attention, since it showcases a band that is one of best, most satisfying guitar pop groups of the last 15 years. If you haven't checked them out before, you need to get this immediately.
The Top 5 single Going Out, released in February 1996, made it resoundingly clear that Supergrass are much more than a three-man Britpop Playstation. While many anticipated a mouthful of chewy nougat tasting not disimilar to Alright, the band instead delivered an antsy, organ-powered eye-opener that swivelled outrageously on a 14-bar passage of brass straight out of Memphis. Fourteen months later, Supergrass now present their first album-length masterpiece.
In It For The Money, the follow-up to the Number 1 debut, I Should Coco, contains 12 songs - including Going Out - of rare and absolute charm. Every track is instantly loveable: the roaringly empowered Sun Hits The Sky has you singing along within seconds; some, like the utterly perfect ballad Late In The Day provoke the just-can't-help-but-grin impulse of Mr Blue Sky's "Hey you with the pretty face" segment, or Oh Yeah by Ash, or Jet by Paul McCartney & Wings.
There is no veneer of grandeur; they don't attempt a Pet Sounds II or anything. Assisted by co-producer John Cornfield, Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey basically just put their chords and their phrases together intuitively, uncannily and unforgettably. The additional touches are ingenious: the beautifully laid-back Hollow Little Reign has a delicious wah-wah guitar solo; Tonight has one of the most thrilling rock 'n' roll brass arrangements since Bitch by The Rolling Stones and Coombes's keyboard-playing brother Rob is a sucker for those goofy seabird synthesiser noises on Ian Dury's Wake Up And Make Love To Me.
Looking for direct influences is hardly the point, but, for what it's worth, you may hear nods towards Crosby Stills Nash & Young (G Song has its root in Ohio). The Who, Can and even Django Reinhardt. The opening title track pulls off six terrific power pop flourishes, one of which recalls Cheap Trick. But as the song is yanked away by an astonishing edit, there's no time to think and we're straight into the turbulent first single, Richard III. Even on the slow songs, three unexpected chords can bounce you from England to America and back. Does it lack an Alright? Yes, but it isn't missed.
While so many bands are making albums to flummox their fans, or to confront their public perception, Supergrass have sneaked up on the blind side with a Rubber Soul, an album to be played everyday in any circumstances. Joyfully and infrectiously "on" in all departments, In It For The Money will simply be adored by everyone who hears it.This incredible sophomore effort contains 12 tracks through which there is never a dull melody. Instead, you get an intense rhythmic assault and crazy-ass sideburns. If you're on the ball, you'll also get a free, limited-edition bonus CD including 9 previously unreleased tracks.
Supergrass have a hard time coming down from their musical highs. Every time they release a giddy, irresistible pop album, they repent on the next record, crafting a moodier response. This happened with their 1995 debut, I Should Coco, which engendered two hangover records: the sprawling, ambitious, yet thrilling In It for the Money and its hazy, unfocused 1999 Supergrass, which, despite the instant glitter classic "Pumping on Your Stereo," was so scattered it sounded as if the guys weren't sure if they wanted to be a band at all anymore. They sprung back with 2002's Life on Other Planets, a truly wonderful pop album that was their best since their debut, but for 2005's Road to Rouen, they once again retreat from the bright colors and sunny melodies and turn toward darker textures. But there's a big difference here: where Supergrass drifted aimlessly, Road to Rouen is a tight, sharply focused album with purpose and momentum. It may have two long epics in the opening "Tales of Endurance, Pts. 4, 5 & 6" and "Roxy," clocking in at 5:31 and 6:17, respectively, but the record lasts just over 35 minutes, and there's a mastery of tone, as the group creates a warm, trippy, late-night vibe and then never lets it flag over the course of nine songs. They have never shown such control on a record before -- previously, their best albums were exciting because they went all over the place, and did it well -- and it's quite intoxicating to hear them ride one groove, finding different variations within it, for an entire album. And if Road to Rouen is anything, it is not monotonous -- it may be an ideal soundtrack for night, but this is hardly a one-note, self-absorbed introspective record. "Tales of Endurance" has an infectious minor-key vamp from pianist Robert Coombes, the title track is a propulsive glammy rocker, and "Kick in the Teeth" has a jangling guitar that off-sets the jazzy, lazy "St. Petersburg," the folky "Low C," and dreamy "Fin." All the songs take varying routes to the same destination, and part of the appeal of this album is that each track sounds different, yet sounds the same. Best of all, unlike that third album, this isn't a self-serious affair -- if the pun in the title itself didn't illustrate that Supergrass have retained their sense of humor, the lively instrumental throwaway "Coffee in the Pot" surely will -- and that's why this is such a terrific little record: Supergrass have found new things to do with their sound without getting self-consciously mature or middlebrow. Road to Rouen may not be a party record, but the best of bands can do any number of sounds while still sounding like themselves, and with this excellent album, Supergrass do prove that they can do exactly that.
