Feeder
Yesterday Went Too Soon

The second album by the Welsh band Feeder, "Yesterday Went Too Soon" arrives two years after their positive debut "Polythene" (1997), acclaimed by press and critics but not very much sold. Perhaps it was too far from the britpop styles of Oasis, Blur, Suede, and others that permeated that period.

In 1999, britpop is already a more distant memory, and Feeder tries again, this time hitting the big target: not only does the new album unexpectedly go straight into the British top ten, but it is also (and especially) a great record. Certainly, a good slice of the credit goes to a perfectly leading single like "Day In Day Out" (very much in the style of the Dandy Warhols, who, not surprisingly, would later reuse the chorus and bass line for their hit "We Used To Be Friends"), but overall, there is noticeable growth in the compositional phase and greater maturity from Nicholas in the interpretation of the tracks.

If "Anaesthetic" picks up the blueprint of what will be the opener of their next album "Echo Park," namely "Standing On The Edge" (a crashing and angry verse that subsequently dissolves into a calm and extremely melodic chorus, somewhat the inverse of the typical structure of an average grunge track), "Insomnia" (second single) continues with a fast pop-punk with a perfect melody. It goes from pleasant indie fascinations ("So Well" or the superb "Picture Of Perfect Youth" - which will later give the title to an equally delightful collection of b-sides) to fast and punchy pearls of melodic punk rock like "Waiting For Changes", "You're My Evergreen", and especially "Hole In My Head".

Absolutely noteworthy is the first, true appetizer of what will be one of the most fascinating features that make Grant Nicholas one of the best (and most outrageously underrated) songwriters of the last fifteen years, namely the ability to get and calibrate the right melody with disarming ease. We are talking about the sumptuous title track, a perfect bright ballad in everything: in the decisive guitar intro that seems played by a Peter Buck of the "Monster" period, in the very well-measured and appropriately epic melodic verse, in the chorus to shout at the top of your lungs, in the strings that draw exciting sonic rainbows, perfectly set into the sound of the track.

Completing the picture, "Radioman", "Tinsel Town", and the fourth single "Paperfaces" somehow anticipate what will then be a radical transformation in Feeder’s future sound, which will approach more closely (also very heavily, in "Pushing The Senses") the British pop tradition.

Not to be forgotten, moreover, is the revival of the old b-side "Dry" (here played by the full band), and the beautiful and "full-bodied" hidden track "Bubblehead".

Key tracks: "Anaesthetic", "Picture Of Perfect Youth", "Yesterday Went Too Soon", "Paperfaces"