Review Summary: Take it or leave it or ignore it or dive in or…
Supergrass’
I Should Coco is an iconic album. You might not agree about its quality, but the album and several of its tracks have exemplified the Britpop scene of the 90s, what with its exuberant, fast pace, catchy tunes and instrumentation that jumped from poppy to punky. It was quite a success. But time went on and their follow-ups failed to reach the same heights, either in popularity or later in quality, much like it happens with many artists of this sort. And then before you know it, the Britpop era is dead and forgotten.
But Gaz Coombes, the mastermind behind Supergrass, is a full-time artist. What does he do now？His legacy is as ‘that guy from that “Alright” band’. Well, as a full-time artist he has to learn to deal with labels and move on creating music, cause what else could he possibly do？And
World’s Strongest Man might just be the first in a long line of albums to finally drag him out of that mostly-forgotten-but-remembered-as-a-label state.
Not that this album is a fantastic, larger-than-life, wheel-reinventing experience that has all the ambition of making Gaz a superstar again. In fact, this album is often quite drab and forgettable. However, it is more often than not a mature, self-aware, confident effort that pours musical professionalism, even if a tad stiff. Gaz Coombes has those years of youthful misguided hopes for success of every new Supergrass album left far behind. Now he doesn’t try to impress anyone, he simply says ‘Here I am, take it or leave it’ with all of its all-over-the-place styles, often going from energetic and fun with slightly fuzzy production to sombre and phlegmatic with mixing suddenly coming off as distant and isolated.
Indeed, tracks like “Deep Pockets” or “Vanishing Act” possess that old-school Supergrass song-writing technique, but thanks to the more refined and soft production don’t feel like beating a dead horse. And besides all else, Gaz has mastered the craft of progressive structure and the songs often, while changing very little in their energy, still end up rewarding and satisfying towards the end. Not to mention many toned-down, self-reflective and personal moments with subtle melody-work on cuts like “Oxygen Mask” or “Slow Motion Life”.
And that’s the album for you. Gaz Coombes understands his position and understands the extent of his abilities. Essentially, you could say this album runs on autopilot and you’ll be right, but it also works as rather a level-headed admission to one’s strengths and weaknesses, simply letting all of them out there for anyone to see.
