Kick In the Teeth

I remember the year the first Supergrass record (I Should Coco) came out. It was 1995, and I was in my first year of college. I was a DJ on WSGR-FM, the 'Bluewater's ONLY Alternative'. Anything punk or aggressive with a punk edge was in heavy rotation on and off the air. It was when I learned that punk wasn't just a sound, it was an attitude. Acts like Supergrass helped define that for me.

"I Should Coco" kicked my whiny little ass because it definitely was punk, and it was a ballbreaker, and it turned everything upside down. Those guys were my age at the time. That blew my mind. A week didn't go by for two years without me playing at least one track off that album. Then in 1997 "In It For the Money" came out. Obviously the boys grew up a little, but only in that they were more focused. The music was still stellar just as before. The songs slowed down a little, but they also became more textured. It became quickly obvious that the band had a lot of ambition and had no intentions of falling into a sophomore slump. Not a band to rest on its laurels, they released their third and self-titled album two years later in 1999. "Supergrass" was even more mellow than its predecessor, a bit more down to earth, although less focused. It almost seemed like the band lost its direction and didn't know where they wanted to be or go. After a three year break they came back in 2002 with "Life On Other Planets" which is so far the best and most focused album in their discography (purely in my own opinion). The songs were as tight as ever, and they finally found the balance they had been searching for...that balance between the power of "I Should Coco" and the musicality of "In It For the Money." And life goes on for the boys from Oxford.

Here in 2005, they arrive with "Road to Rouen," which is kind of a fresh look at the band. They've dropped a lot of the aggression and attitude, but they found a direction and kept the musicality. The songs are still infectious, but in more of a classic pop way, and when I say classic pop, I mean like John Lennon or Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon era in particular).

At just over 35 minutes in length, this is definitely reminding me of classic pop rock albums from the sixties and seventies. There are nine extremely well-crafted songs here, and yes they are a bit diverse, but there's also a common thread running through it.

The album cover is a photo of a European highway at night with the light trails from car headlights. I don't know whether it's intentional or not, but this is definitely a record that you can see yourself listening to while driving at night. Maybe by yourself, maybe not, I don't know, it just feels that way.

Full disclosure: I also feel that most of the music from Joy Division is specifically good for driving at night, especially the uptempo tracks. What I'm trying to tell you here is that you shouldn't equate "Road to Rouen" with Joy Division. Two entirely different beasts.

Okay, back to the review. Supergrass recorded this album in a barn in France. When I say "Supergrass recorded this album..." I mean they recorded it themselves. The band engineered, produced, recorded, wrote, and played the whole damn thing themselves. They dealt with trying to find the right power adapters and patch cords and all that on their own. Imagine doing this in the French countryside (Normandy), it can't be easy. Shit, it's hard enough to find a shop that sells patch cords in downtown Detroit let alone the middle-of-nowhere in France. This was their first time doing it all on their own, and you'd never know. The recording is ambitious and obviously handled well by these veteran musicians.

The first track is titled "Tales of Endurance (parts 4, 5, & 6)." There are no other "Tales of Endurance" from this band, but I hope they put the first three parts on the next album. Its so interesting how they can wear their influences on their sleeves without actually sounding like them. I can hear T Rex and Humble Pie and the Faces, yet I really just hear Supergrass and this perfect pop that they've created over the past ten years. "Sad Girl," like a few other songs on the record definitely have Lennon in mind. In fact, there's a whole lot of piano on this record. It sounds really good. "Roxy" is a majestic piece of glam, "Coffee In the Pot" is a whimsical instrumental that shows the band hasn't lost it's sense of humor, the title track may be the most uptempo track on the record, and is also quite glammy, "Low C" brings back the Lennon piano with some sweeping strings (Mellotron, I believe), and "Fin" is where that aforementioned Pink Floyd reference comes into play.

Supergrass are back, and yes, they grew up, but it's good. Sort of like how the Troggs started out crazy and punk as fuck with "Wild Thing" and grew into "Love Is All Around."

Check out "Road to Rouen" by clicking on the album cover...