The Bluetones - London Spitz - 18/9/06
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Tonight, rockfeedback is wandering the streets of East London for your rock review-reading pleasure. But we're not in search of some back street, decrepit little squat packed with grubby, unwashed oiks playing shabby little 'wuuurr, gor blimey, my old man's a dustman and 'ees run off wiv me drugs' indie. Goodness, no - tonight's about a more alluring, more cerebral and altogether more timeless kind of product.
Believe it or not, The 'tones are on the brink of a fifth studio album: they possess a back catalogue that spans 60s West Coast introspection a la Neil Young or Love; expansive, Led Zep-ish riffery, and a host of exquisitely crafted, charming l'il modern pop gems.
Despite these LPs, and the truly enviable run of singles that accompanied them, The Bluetones are not widely spoken of in a hushed, revered tenor. But tonight's partisans don't seem unduly concerned. The new material from the forthcoming eponymous LP is concisely effective - 'Serenity Now', 'Baby, Back Up' and imminent 45 'My Neighbour's House' ('this is our new single...what, missed the hype, did you?' winks a self-effacing Morris); the latter in particular propelled with an undeniable vim akin to early Oasis.
Even the stuff we don't remember so well sounds great. 'Never Going Nowhere' - kid brother to the Stone Roses' 'I Am The Resurrection' with just a dash of 'Ceremony' by New Order is afforded a particularly welcome airing.
As the jangle-pop genius of 'Slight Return, the anthemic 'If...' - ('the greatest single to ever reach number 13' according to no less an authority than our very own Toby L) and the ever-monumental 'Bluetonic' provide a cheery victory lap, we're left to contemplate that if The Bluetones were a footballer, they'd be Paul Scholes. Quiet, unassuming, deemed to be unworthy by some of the limelight's intense glare: but reliably, ruthlessly brilliant nonetheless.
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