The Music
The Music

THE REVIEW

I was eagerly anticipating the release of this album. Listening to the early EPs and seeing them perform live had piqued my interest in how The Music, yet another band of eighteen-year-olds, produced a sound heavily influenced both by '70s rock and the late '80s, early '90s English scene. The self-titled album confirms that the musical background of the four is oblivious to the existence of a decade characterized by Nirvana and the dualities of Oasis/Blur and Radiohead/Buckley, which nonetheless spawned many rockers of the new generation. Already the opening "The Dance" leads us down completely different paths. The echoes of Stone Roses, Charlatans, Verve, and Primal Scream are very strong. Robert Harvey sings convincingly, at times reminiscent of Ian Brown and at others of Tim Burgess, while the rhythm section builds an energetic sonic backdrop where Nutter's riffs, who must have played Jimmy Page and John Squire to death, fit perfectly. "The People" is the single that, with its energy and ease of listening, launched The Music into radio heavy-rotation, while "Turn Out The Light" and "Take The Long Road And Walk It" pay a strong tribute to Led Zeppelin. The concluding "Disco" and "Too High," before inevitably aligning in their compelling force with the rest of the work, have a beginning that is very reminiscent of Ashcroft's "Northern Soul." After the commotion caused when they were still perfect unknowns, The Music passes with flying colors the difficult test of a debut album. Survival in the rock world now becomes tougher: the formula of a sound so distant from what young talents have let us hear in recent years and which propelled the group high is a product with a short shelf life and could transform, already with the next work, from a surprise factor to a reheated dish.