Track Listing

1. Moving
2. Your Love
3. What Went Wrong (In Your Head)
4. Beautiful People
5. Shotover Hill
6. Eon
7. Mary
8. Jesus Came From Outta Space
9. Pumping On Your Stereo
10. Born Again
11. Faraway
12. Mama And Papa

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15388 in Music
• Released on: 1999-09-20
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Supergrass may be the unluckiest band to come out of the Britpop wave of the early 1990s. Their first album, I Should Coco, saw the trio typecast as a cartoon Indie boy band, propelled to stardom by the adolescent hi-jinks of "Feel Alright" and "Caught By The Fuzz". Unfortunately, this tag proved rather difficult to shake and as their music matured, their audience dwindled; their second album In It For The Money was released to critical esteem and consumer indifference. By the time Supergrass was released in 1999, Supergrass had already been relegated to the "Oh yeah, I remember those guys" category of pop. What a shame, because Supergrass is at least as good as In It For The Money and that album was fantastic. Flaunting their 70s-rock influences proudly, Supergrass continue to sound like the world's greatest garage band with a sackful of studio toys. These guys know what makes a good pop song: "Pumping On Your Stereo" is practically shouting out for an audience of handclaps, while "Shotover Hill" makes use of that oft-neglected instrument, the kettle drum. With Supergrass, the boys have again demonstrated how much they've grown up. Pop music, yes, but definitely not kid's stuff. --Robert Burrow

Customer Reviews

Good, but not the best
To me this album was slightly disappointing. Being the second of theirs I got after 'In it for the money', that wasn't surprising. This album is a good album. It's very good, actually. Their shift from their early crazy days to this dark, gloomy piece may not be appreciated by some, they certainly pull it one off superbly with songs that show more musical brilliance. And fortunately this shift is not permanent but they come back to the fun later in 'Life on other planets' and 'Diamond Hoo Ha'.

Having said that, there are of course the anomalies - 'Jesus came from outer space' and 'Pumping on your stereo' - a little bit of fun in the middle of the gloom. Not unlike 'Coffee in the pot' on 'Road to rouen'.

Personally, I like both their fun and dark sides, but I feel this album has fewer ground-breakers on it than 'In it for the money' or 'I should coco'.

Another brilliant Supergrass album? Oh yes....
Rating: 9/10

Best tracks: "Moving", "Faraway", "Born Again", "Your Love", "Mama and Papa"

For me, the possibility of surpassing In it for the Money seemed unlikely but not impossible; yet when I heard lead single "Pumping on Your Stereo", I couldn't help but feel just a little bit disappointed; I mean, it was good, even great, but it didn't blow my mind the way I'd hoped it would. The same applied for the third album itself and even as I felt that slightly underwhelming sensation, I knew it was an inevitable reaction given just how much I adored their previous album. Almost as inevitable was the fact that I'd soon love the album for what it is, and that included "Pumping on Your Stereo", which steals Bowie's riff from "Rebel Rebel" and delivers a cracking glam stomp that I soon came to love to bits.

Overall, the album's unusual in that it has a cosier, warmer feel than anything the band had ever done before, yet it's also their biggest, most spacious sounding recording; a clear Pink Floyd influence is evident, especially on the two brilliant near-instrumentals "Eon" and "Born Again", both of which feature extended liquefied, beautiful guitar solos that could have belonged on the likes of Wish You Were Here. There's also some peerless summertime pop like "Your Love", the rather mean-spirited, twisted joke that is "Mary", the delightfully goofy "Jesus Came from Outta Space", a beautifully hazy interlude in "Shotover Hill", two tremendously effective epic moments in the form of "Moving" and "Faraway" (both of which are arguably the best tracks here), a nice turn for bassist Mick Quinn to take vocals on "Beautiful People" and even a stomping pub-rock gem like "What Went Wrong (In Your Head)". There's also a lovely, emotional epilogue in the form of "Mama and Papa".

This album may not have the perfect pacing and structure of its predecessor, but it sounds and feels great all the way from beginning to end and as such it`s almost as wonderful an album; the playing throughout is thrilling, lively, colourful, good-humoured and full of zest, while Gaz Coombes wonderful, underrated singing is brilliant without ever drawing attention to itself. There's lots and lots here to enjoy in what's yet another ridiculously great Supergrass album!

A more mature album...
Supergrass are brilliant. You know it. For 11 years they've been at it, and they're still going strong. But, with two albums behind them-'I Should Coco' and 'In It For The Money'-this is a darker and more mature approach to rock, leaving behind their glory days of their debut album. But, that said, it's still a great album. Starting off with the fantastic 'Moving' starting off, it maintains the standard with 'Your Love'. Then it's the quite dark-sounding 'What Went Wrong (In Your Head)'. Two tracks come next that drag it down a bit, but they're still okay, 'Beautiful People' and 'Shotover Hill', but number six on the list, played with twelve guitars (that's worth some credit) is the amazing 'Eon'. Next is the menacing but funky track 'Mary', the catchy and fast 'Jesus Came From Outta Space', but then one of the most catchy songs ever comes up-by the name of 'Pumping On Your Stereo'!!! Then the bad-sounding beginning of 'Bron Again' makes it sound like a turn off, but it does improve. Now comes the best track on the album, the INCREDIBLE 'Faraway' is worth the album's price alone. To finish off, the gentle and sad-sounding 'Mama & Papa', ending this dark but good album.

Track Listing

1. Moving
2. Your Love
3. What Went Wrong (In Your Head)
4. Beautiful People
5. Shotover Hill
6. Eon
7. Mary
8. Jesus Came From Outta Space
9. Pumping On Your Stereo
10. Born Again
11. Faraway
12. Mama & Papa

So, it's quite mature and not as up to the standards of 'I Should Coco', 'In It For The Money' and 'Life On Other Planets', but it's still worth checking out!
4/5