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Supergrass: Diamond Hoo Ha

27th March 2008 | by Aidan Williamson

There's something to be said for the Ikara Colt / Gallows approach to being in a band. They recognise that playing with the same people for so long can be liable to leave proceedings on the verge of artistic stagnation.

After six albums together, Supergrass have sure weathered the times, only a handful of bands can claim to survive the Brit-pop fall-out. Whilst bands such as Ash and Radiohead have strived for innovation with each album, bands like Ocean Colour Scene and Oasis took the tack of releasing variations on a theme, cutting themselves off from the Zeitgeist and placing their music within a musical vacuum.

So here we have another album of four lads having a laugh, creating good time rock 'n' roll. In doing so they have strayed into the realm of psychedelia-influenced pop which makes the band increasingly sound like your local pub band trying to play cover versions of Iggy Pop and David Bowie.

While the first half-dozen of the tracks on "Diamond Hoo Ha" manage to do this in a tolerable way, a shift occurs at the 25 minute mark wherein the band try to throw in juvenile sounding wind instruments, the plain embarrassing saxophony of "Whisky & Green Tea" and the 'nursery school talent show' instrumentation of "Rough Knuckles".

"The Return of Inspiration" serves well only as critic bait as cringe-worthy solos take the stand once more. When the boys stick to their standard rock 'n' roll delivery the payoff is much greater, noone does a "do dooo da do dooooo" chorus like Supergrass, well, except maybe Feeder. But then, if they hadn't of tried to reach a little ouside of their boundaries, we'd probably be writing about how they always play it too safe with regard to their sound. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Added to that, the bordering on nonsensical lyricism which could just as easily originate from the cast-off cut-outs from a magazine ransom note and you're left with little that will inspire the imagination of the nation. Were it not for the Supergrass name, we'd doubt that this would sell 500 copies, and you just know that when someone rhymes "On my knees" with "Believe" they've pretty much resigned themselves to their fate of musical obscurity.

Rating:  4 / 10