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Rating: This fifth studio effort by Supergrass (released shortly after Ferragosto nearly three years after the whimsical "Life On Other Planets") is likely destined to mark a point of no return in the career of the now quartet (with the permanent addition of Gaz Coombes' cousin on keyboards) from Oxford. This group was able to pull authentic gems of vibrant punk pop out of its hat in the second half of the '90s.
"Road To Rouen" is the album that comes immediately after last year's retrospective "10" and in the light of the first listens, it represents the conclusion of the "carefree" era of this group, which survived (not without a few missteps) the Britpop wave of 10 years ago: it must be stated that the goofiness and brightness of Supergrass now seem to be left definitively behind for a more considered, reflective, and intimate approach, as a testament to an artistic maturity finally reached.
This "maturity" (sincere although almost flaunted), however, presents, similar to other "turns" of other English pop bands, two sides on which one can debate for a long time: during the album that is not devoid of a certain charm (the delicate ballad "St.Peterbourg" chosen as a single shines with independent splendor and was unfairly relegated to a No. 22 in the English charts). It seemed to me that the group's intention was to create a "travel" album, ideal for the car stereo, in a style that closely recalls the sounds of American rock of the '70s (Neil Young and Eagles foremost) with a tendency towards songs with a bitter and lived tone (the recent passing of Gaz's mother surely had its weight).
It is, therefore, an album exactly "end of summer" and presents stylistic solutions far removed from the colorful glam pop of recent works, in a certain sense resuming the intimacy of the 1999 self-titled album, for instance in the opener "Tales Of Endurance (Part 4,5 and 6)" which recalls acoustic Pink Floyd, or the paced "Low C", a ballad indeed very seventies and very sad.
The gaze aims to evoke somewhat decadent and bohemian atmospheres, with an underlying melancholy only hinted at in previous works: exceptions are the instrumental "from the AM station" "Coffee In The Pot" and the title track dangerously close to certain "Americanisms" of the Stereophonics (albeit endowed with rather elegant production).
The judgment is still decidedly positive, and it could have even been enthusiastic if all the tracks had maintained the poignant tension of the concluding "Fin", which in its moving minimalism is worth the entire and overflowing last Coldplay album.
The less happy aspect is the realization that these, as convincing and grown as they may be, are not the Supergrass we were used to listening to: there is no irony, there are no playful winks at the charts, there is no punk carefreeness... Gaz and company are now 30 years old, and in the higher moments of the album, feelings of nostalgia, bitterness, melancholy prevail, where the sounds of the past are no longer used as mischievous citations but as a background to intimate reflections supported by poetic and ambitious songwriting.
Adhering to a "rule" of the '70s, the album contains just 9 tracks for a total duration of barely 35 minutes: little for a comeback so eagerly awaited by fans, who could already be puzzled by the "change of course" of this album.
Furthermore, the cover for the first time does not present the group's large faces, a detail of no small importance: a sign that perhaps something has indeed changed in the Supergrass camp.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Tales of Endurance (Parts 4, 5 & 6) (05:31)
Making sense of what I've heard
And what is on my mind
Well don't look down cos it's far to fall
Oh yeah
Count the hours face the fear
It's all you need these days
We're past the post and through the door
We hail commercial suicide
Kiss the love you leave behind
And let it bother you
Well you do what it takes to get what you can
Last night I thought about her
... love and what I do
It's hanging over me
I'm sure to break your loving heart
I'm down and take a walk down a sugar coated sonified
I've been hanging around for hours
Staring at your holy ground
Ooooooh
Last night in northern Hollywood, thinking about the harder times
I might've known that you'd be tearing up the photographs
Oooooh
At sight of all I've done been taken for higher ground
... china dolls and better times
This side of life...
you know this living hell solid gold coming for no one
02 St. Petersburg (03:09)
Before the time of the morning sandman
I can find my way around
Soon be here at the borderline I guess
Armageddon coming down
And here lies a pretty state again
It's time to make a move on
Cos in three days I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
Firelight, the light of love, burns
Turns to ashes in your hand
So to bed by the morning light I guess
I'm awake and understand
Set sail for St. Petersburg
Making use of my time
Cos in three days I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
Head out to a better life
I can get a job, settle down
I'm full of love, of a full of feeling
I can't stand the here and now
Leave town for pity's sake you know
It's time to make a move on
Cos in three days I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
Yeah, three days I'll be out of here
And it's not a day too soon
03 Sad Girl (03:36)
Honey found time costs
You never learnt to economise
You look around and before you know
It's gone, turned to dust
There she goes
Plays the part of sorrow
In the garden running free
Steady nerves, taking all the hard knocks
You've only got yourself
Falling out of love
Making other plans
Lady knows how to go
Making eyes in a photograph
But we all know you're a lonely girl
All sad and lost
There she goes
Walking out the front door
You've only got yourself in deep
Daily life driven to a cold heart
The only god you know is greed
People in my head it goes
Break up the band
Man overboard
See Hollywood
Run out of cash
Get out of bed
Call off the dogs
Take out the trash
Stare at the sun
Man on the tracks
Cat out the bag
Sit on the fence
You got blood on your hands
Run out of luck
Lay down your arms
Curled on your bed
And then do it all again
Are times so lost
You wear the look of a modern girl
You wander round like a loaded gun
Armed for the cause
There she goes
Walking out the front door
You've only got yourself in deep
Lord knows I closed your eyes for so long
You're in the garden running free
06 Road to Rouen (03:51)
There's damage out there some place
You got to step aside
Where are you going that decision is made
That's how it started
Too hot and dirty inside
Contain your feelings when there's nowhere to go
Follow all the signs and they'll lead us away
And it's all good stuff for ... around the world today
Turn off your television
Don't be the hatchet man
His time has come and now I'm ready to go
Cut up and fear
Tap into the nervous system
Retrieve your message tell me what do I know
Follow all the signs and they'll lead us away
But it's all good stuff for ... around the world today
Tried on the feeding time
The truth is
It's going to get you and won't let go
I'm isolated
I'm going nowhere fast
There's no direction so where do I go
Follow all the signs and they'll lead us away
But it's all good stuff for ... around the world today
07 Kick in the Teeth (03:36)
It's a kick in the teeth
Can make it hard to smile
I'm turning to a dirty dastard style
What... there ain't no use in crying
So I just keep on trying
And the heartache would be fun
But I just can't get my head around what you want
Oh yeah
Killing time waiting for tomorrow
Well I can't sleep take my pills of sorrow
Well I don't ...
...
Well I just keep on trying
And the heartache would be fun
But I just can't get my head round what you
What you want
Well kicking teeth
Broken glass went flying
It's a fucking cheek...
You cut me down but there ain't no use in crying
So I just keep on trying
The heartache would be fun
But I just can't get my head round what you
Oh, what you want
What you want
Don't know what you want
What you want
Don't know what you want
Don't know what you want
08 Low C (04:18)
The loneliness at times
I can feel it open wide
I can wander through the past
And believe it for a while
We were younger
Oh the way you turned my head, ooooh
The things we used to have
Are fading all too fast
Like a castle in the sand
Well some things they're meant to last
We were younger
Oh the way you turned my head, ooooh
I wonder if I'd care
If I saw you again
Would you hurt me like before
Or would happiness be there
We were younger
Oh the way you turned my head, ooooh
09 Fin (03:11)
I hold it all to the love in her eyes
Lord knows I can feel her, see her, in my mind
And her spoken words ring through my head
Though I'm lost, I can hear them calling me there
Hey, the song, do you feel (feel)
Leave your light on through the night
Love (love) and loss so dear
You know it's a long way home
Well a lonely road to the promised land
May be long but I see the end some day
To broken lives on the mountain side
Out in the cold, kinda hurried shifting sands
They're in the other world to where you lie
Pulling your heart then the ravens say goodbye
Hey, the song, do you feel?
And leave your light on through the night
Loss, from .... so dear
You know it's a long way home
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