The Charlatans

Forever. The Singles

As I've written in Rockbeatsone before, The Charlatans are, in my opinion, one of the world's most criminally underrated bands. They have recently split from their old management team and taken on-board the services of Alan McGhee, the man who brought Oasis to the forefront of British music. His first action was to get the band to release a best-of compilation. Call it bad timing or bad luck, but Oasis also released a best-of at the same time - the Charlatans' time in the limelight has once more been eclipsed by the lesser band from the North West of England.

The band have been around for a long-time now, some seventeen years. They have digested their career into an eighteen track album so that those who have always liked the band but failed to get any of their records will have a complete set of all of their hits. It also works as a timely reminder of just how great these songs really are. Dammit, this record should be outselling Oasis, U2 and the Beatles new glorified best-of albums put together! But it probably won't in the near future, unless the majority of the British record buying public suddenly develops taste.

‘Indian Rope', their first hit starts off the album, and it sounds old - that's not a criticism, just an observation . From there it's quite simply hit after hit, good tune after good tune. ‘The Only One I Know', ‘Weirdo', ‘Can't Get Out of Bed', ‘Just When You're Thinking Things Over', and ‘One to Another' are all classics which showcase the band at their best. These tunes mix northern soul, British rock and rhythm and blues from the 1960s. Bombastic guitars coupled with delightful organ work and driving piano are the key to these songs.

‘North Country Boy', ‘How High' and ‘Tellin' Stories' are from their most commercially successful album Tellin' Stories. Here the lyrics are more confident and powerful, mixing more poetic imagery with British grit and I swear that there are references to lines from Dylan songs, although whether these are intentional is another issue completely. ‘Forever', ‘My Beautiful Friend' and ‘Impossible' are more complex and more subtle tunes. ‘Impossible' is a song that can't help but make you smile with a brilliant harmonica solo rounding off the song.

The next few songs come from the Charlatans hugely successful album Wonderland. Recorded in Los Angeles, these tunes are perfect examples of how the Charlatans sound and style shifts yet still retains something of the past. ‘Love is the Key' is a brilliant pomp of a rock song. Featuring drum loops and distorted guitars it feels humid, sleazy and, well, American. ‘A Man Needs to be Told' sees Burgess sing in an amazing falsetto voice which has to be heard to be believed.

Then comes the only slight dip in the collection. The two tunes from their 2004 album, Up at the Lake. ‘Up at the Lake' and ‘Try Again Today' are not bad songs in themselves, just not as good as the previous songs on display. ‘Blackened Blue Eyes' from Simpatico sees the band return to their piano/guitar driven roots with a song that doesn't seem out of place on this collection at all. The collection ends rather disappointingly with a remix of ‘You're So Pretty, We're So Pretty' which just sounds ridiculous and cheesy and is completely pointless - why didn't they just include the original?

The second disc contains a collection of BBC radio studio sessions and some outtakes and is probably for fans only. Yet this is probably enough to get these fans to buy these songs all over again. As bonus material goes it's of good quality and of real interest to fans. There is also a separate accompanying DVD which offers all of the band's videos, some live tracks and television appearances.

All in all, this is a brilliant collection, there are very few dud tracks and it should be an essential purchase for anyone who has had even only a passing interest in the band over the last fifteen or so years. It will hopefully allow the band to be rediscovered and for the boys to move on into the future, still mixing and challenging musical styles and genres in their own inimitable style

James Ketchell

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