Flashback: music reviews

This week: Corduroy, Soul Coughing, White Town.

And a dubious album cover.

In my wasted youth at the University of Hull, I penned the odd review for Hullfire, the student newspaper. For the sake of both completeness and comedy value, I occasionally add them to this blog.

Back in April 1997, I seem to have been a) very serious, b) extremely grumpy and c) overly fond of quote marks, as these reviews show.

Corduroy - The New You (LP)

Really Corduroy-boys, what were you thinking with this album cover?

Operating on the retro FM-rock periphery of acid jazz, Corduroy were born to write ersatz US sitcom themes. It also becomes clear upon listening to The New You that they gleefully confirm to every stereotype of an 'ironic' band.

They call songs 'Season of the Rich' or (wait for it) 'Designosaur'. On 'Supercrime' they moan about the shop that won't fix their broken hi-fi. They include secret tracks full of 'scary' chanting - what japes...

In the final analysis, however, it doesn't really matter how '4 real' Corduroy are, when against the odds the album actually turns out to be a rather fine goodtime record. If they stopped laying on the kitsch with a trowel and concentrated on transferring their live act to tape, it would have been even better.

Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon (single)

Soul Coughing transcend the dull and actually enter the realms of the unpleasant with this sub-Beck indie-rap stoned rantalogue. Only redeeming feature: possible first use of the word 'mezzanine' in a song. White Town - Wanted (single)

Oh woe! Does the idea of a third-rate industrial Dubstar appeal? Thought not. Where 'Your Woman' grooved and made enigmatic references to 'highbrow Marxist ways', this merely clanks with a vengeance. Only redeeming feature - a five second electronic fart at the end.