Let's Bottle Bohemia

The opener "Tell Me Something I Don't Know" is a bit of a tease as the first chord crashes in like George Harrison's on "A Hard Days Night", then develops a Bowie-esque, glam swagger before hopping back to upbeat guitar pop for the rest of the album. Still sounding roughly as they did on So Much for the City, their style has developed more of its own identity, partly due to the lack of obvious American influences that recurred throughout their debut. "Faded Beauty Queens" and "You Can't Fool Old Friends With Limousines" are insanely catchy, reminiscent of "Don't Steal Our Sun" and "Big Sur"; "Whatever Happened to Corey Haim" is a rousing Phil Spector-esque wall of beautifully arranged sound; and "Not for All the Love in the World" is a rhythm-heavy ballad, led by a booming piano, the only downbeat song on the album. The album closer and sure to be live favourite is "The Irish Keep Gatecrashing", another catchy, almost jig-like number with a fantastic falsetto and harmonies in the chorus, a perfect way to finish the album. If Lets Bottle Bohemia needed to be summed up in one phrase it would have to be "quality over quantity". --David Trueman