Supergrass
In It For The Money
Parlophone

Supergrass made a big fuss (or fuzz) with their debut album I Should Coco two years ago. With the song Caught By The Fuzz, among a bunch of others, rather close to perfect, rough-edgy guitar-pop-rock, they seemed to fit well into the fine tradition British bands have developed over some three decades. This year they had to prove if they could be able to match their "first-born", and once again make music-journalists come drooling all over. I won't be surprised if so happens.

Once more they've written a dozen of teasingly appealing pop- songs. They do not intend to present something completely new and original in popular music, but, nevertheless, their music is likeable and cool, giving you songs to hum along with. They show some rough magic, alongside being playful and arrogant, but at the right side of the scale. The matter of arrogancy have become a well-known phrase dealing with lots of Brit-bands for a while, but Supergrass seems to be smart enough to steer clear off the rather immature cock-fighting over the Brit-pop throne. In stead of stretching noses towards the sky, they concentrate on their songwriting and performance, without being self-absorbed, while they're keeping a healthy distance to the business and the stardom of pop&rock.

The album opens with the title-track, a swirling starter with elegant horns and a swell arrangement, and a certain irony for sure. Song two - Richard III - is a real killer, and will definitely be one of the summer songs of 1997! Riffy, catchy, and with the spiffing sound of the Theremin included as superb seasoning. Yum, yum! Fun! In It For The Money contains of 12 songs, changing to and fro between up-tempo stuff and some calmer moves. And with fitting doses of strings, contributed by Hornography(!) and The Kick Horns(!), with additional percussion by one Satan Singh!? Most likely a nice bad- guy...The song You Can See Me is another charmer, with the lines:

If you like me, you can buy me and take me home
When you see me on your TV I'm alone

The three Oxford-born youngsters of Supergrass makes a strong trio. All the songs are credited Supergrass & Robert Coombes (the keyboard man, and 4th "member" of the trio). Gaz Coombes is the target-man, doing the vocals and guitars. He's got sort of a whiny voice, but it suits their music quite well. And he's got some solid backing in Mick Quinn (bassman) and Danny Goffey (drummer), which both do backing vocals as well. (or am I wrong?) You can "hear" the Beatles, and you can "recognize" glimpses of others. But still the album sounds Supergrass-ish. Or, as Lord Percy from Black Adder II would have said: This is nuggets of purest green!!! Well done, lads!

Copyright © 1997 Håvard Oppøyen