Life On Other Planets [CD]

Borrowing heavily from a wide range of influences works very well when mixed with their own brand of originality and energy, and you can hear anything from T. Rex ('Seen The Light') to a bit of Abbey Road or Pink Floyd ('Run')... and 'Grace' is a great return to form in a similar vein to 'Pumping On Your Stereo' or 'Alright', and is guaranteed to cheer you up.

Without going on about each and every track, it suffices to say that there is something on this album for everyone, and is a welcome addition to their ever growing repetoire of hugely listenable stuff.

The fun kicks of with Za, with a 'Chopsticks' style piano start before the familiar
guitar blasts in and a 'Pumping On Your Stereo' style groove carries things along nicely.
A great opener to the album.

Then 'Rush Hour Soul' ups the tempo slightly with a groovy 70's guitar sound.

'Seen The Light' is excellent. It sounds very T-Rex like, with Gaz snarling 'I'm a rock and roll singer in a rock and roll band' in an Elvis Presley snarl! Fantastically catchy with a break in the middle with birds singing and a sheep baa-ing !

Not letting up comes 'Brecon Beacons', an uptempo number with a tale of a mysterious death and witchcraft ! Weird, but good.

Time for a breather ? Not just yet - 'Cant Get Up' starts slowly but before long the tempo picks up. This is another top tune with a sing-a-long chorus - 'I-I-I-I cant get up no more'.

'Evening Of The Day' mellows things out slightly, with a more sombre Gaz singing about love, railway lines and mountains. Think Supergrass doing a Jazz record and this might be close ! Things then mellow even more 2 minutes from the end with some cool whistling and mumblings from the guys.

Full on rock for 'Never Done Nothing' - probably the nearest thing to the punky style of 'I Should CoCo'.

Classic Supergrass next with 'Funniest Things', quiet verses with big choruses.

The first single 'Grace' is fantastic with unforgettable lines like 'You ate our chips and drank our coke, and you showed me Mars on your telescope'. 'Save your money for the children' is the backbone to this one and its a very catchy number from the boys.

'La Song' - quiet start and then bang. Lots of 'La La La' and punky guitars. And Gaz singing about 'The dance of the mashed potato' ! Superb.

'Prophet 15' slows proceedings slightly. Lots of famous names here - Oscar Wilde, Steve McQueen and Cuban hero Che Guevara ! All of them 'lost in a crowd' with Gaz. Wacky and wonderful.

'Just' brings things to a halt. A 5 minute come down that is absolutely fantastic. Only Supergrass can do stuff like this.

The band have pulled together styles from their first 3 albums and the result is a classic. I have enjoyed everything they have done so far and this is no exception. I don't think that they could ever match the first album and how it burst on to the scene, the time was just right and BritPop was exploding. But for here and now in 2002 this is just about perfect. Everything you want from a Supergrass album and a little bit more. Still the most underrated UK band. No-one will even come close to this in 2002.