The Charlatans (1995)

Britpop is here and right on cue the Charlatans produce their finest work to date. Single Just When You're Thinking Things Over becomes a massive radio hit and they reach the top spot in the charts again. The music is big bold and confident, the hammond turned up loud and the guitars and vocals sounding sweeter than ever. Top form.

Rating 5/5

Chart position 1

Reviews

Pete (thecharlatans.info 2001)
Self titled, follow up to Up To Our Hips, the group felt back on their feet and it shows.

Nine Acre Court kicks off, with atmospheric drums, tribal rythms and Jon Brookes on vocals! Laid back, yet urgent if that's possible, an almost religious, spiritual vibe sets in, the Hammond chopping away and the bass rumbling, something special is happening. More assured than Up To Our Hips, reaffirming the bands regained swagger, this tees us up nicely for the rest of the album.

Next to crash in is Feeling Holy, groovy guitars and funky Hammond dominate the sound, Tim singing sweetly and prophetically, this songs starts small and grows into something massive, tempo increasing constantly, sweeping to new highs, the crescendo see vocals and Hammond combining to great effect, this is one to turn up loud! Listen to the last minute and a half, it's the band at their very best - enjoy Robs Hammond ferocity - spellbinding.

Just Lookin' is a firm favourite with the fans, still demanding live appearance in 2002, it's another burner that lives up to the lyrics - " and we'll stand with our hands in the air, and we're feeling so good, cause you care, and you're freaking around in the bush, feeling good, feeling high, it's a rush". Mark Collins excels like never before on guitar and in a way its his song, underpinned with lush Hammond melodies and the now taken for granted, great bass and drum combo from Blunt and Brookes. Nice.

Crashin' In - Wow!!! The re-launch! This appeared well in advance of the album, just after Christmas and its easy to see why, a track marking a breakthrough, legend has it that Tim was messing around on the mixing board and stumbled on this great sound! True or not, the song really did energise the band, after less than stellar chart placing's, this saw them re-emerge, hitting out, and striving for more. One to cherish.

Club culture meets the charlatans again here, it's the funky, Just Lookin' double A side, Bullet Comes. A single that reaffirmed the bands connection with the dance fraternity, it proved to the clubbers that they were the most thoroughly modern of British groups. Dancey, up, soulful and uplifting, this is mega, Tim dazzling us with his generosity of spirit again. Feel good about this.

"Here comes a soul saver, on your record player, falling about in the dust". Read that again, Tim's talking to us, and he paints a clear picture, how he was feeling when he wrote this. Remarkably candid and human, this is another favourite with the fans. Again underpinned with Hammond and sliding guitars, it's a delightful track, Tim really extending his emotion into his vocal delivery.

Just When Your Thinkin' Things Over, was the real lift off point for the band, the track that got them back on the A play lists and into the nations consciousness once more, released on the same day as the massively hyped Oasis V Blur singles battle the track slid in to number 12 in the UK chart in what was seen as a remarkable return after a period out of the media spotlight. Sunny, shiney, upbeat and optimistic, a top pop song that made us smile and made us dance, yay!

Track 8, Tell Everyone, chills us out for the inevitable final album onslaught, and we need it! Yet another heart warmer to saver. Tim, seemingly growing more lyrically adept and accomplished by the track, does it again, he dominates. True.

Grrrrrr! This is rock, Toothache stabs and jives in a nearly techno stomp funk. Wow, they never sounded like this - menacing beyond terrifying, Tim spits and sneers the lyrics, this is noisy rough, and oh so colourful, landscape enlarging soundscapes open up to reveal a dirty, rawkous tidal wave of sound. Yup, its so great you'll never want anything else. Massive dirty Hammond track that knocks you down with its brilliance, Mr Rob Collins you impress the hell out of me. World Class.

No Fiction is next, and yes its real alright, think cool, classy guitar licks breaking into, forceful yearning lyrics from Tim, this stomps, into a little gem that doesn't surprise with its quality, we're getting used to it now, edgy and embellished with more inspired Hammond and guitar than you cold hope for. We waited patiently and the boys delivered.

The band reaffirm their intentions here with See It Through, they intend to and we demand it and they deliver again. I'm running out of stuff to say. Its just another top classy tune, Tim raising his lyrical range to great effect. This isn't a criticism but its just another A grade song on an A grade album; Unbeatable

Now we collapse at the end, with Thank You, an ode to the fans, Tim thanking us, the soul cats, with a tribute - hear this, it's for us! And its starts slow and breezes into another slashing Hammond inferno, starting tired and sentimental, transforming and building into a big strong invincible wall of solid Hammond.

Don't Thank Us - we thank you.

Sam Taylor (Q Magazine 1995)
After last year's pleasant but commercially disappointing Up To Our Hips, The Charlatans might have been expected to simply fade away. But, as the group's fortunes have declined, singer Tim Burgess's beestung lips seem fixed in an ever-widening smile. Their new album is equally euphoric - making up in feelgood vibes what it lacks in originality and direction. "Feelin' good, feelin' high, it's a rush," gushes Burgess in his excited helium whine on Just Lookin' (a sentiment echoed on practically every other track) as the melody mimics The First Cut Is The Deepest at twice the speed. Similarly, new single Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over is the Stones' Torn & Frayed on Prozac. The trippy Thank You contains flashes of '90s rave, while Toothache is nicely spruced up by The Chemical Brothers, but the effect is less convincing than Primal Scream's Screamadelica, and The Charlatans - though a fun summer album - is never quite as ecstatic for the listener as it appears to have been for the group.