Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

The Courteeners are back, playing their biggest headline gig to date at the G-MEX Manchester (that's what it's called) on the 11th of December backed up by The Buzzcocks. (I'm sure I saw the Buzzcocks being backed up by the Cortinas back in the day - huh how things change I guess that's progress for you). Fray and Courteeners also have a new single (Cross my Heart and Hope to Fly - out now), and a new album (Falcon - out in Feb) and tour imminent (come March).

So what can be gleaned from two sides of a 45? Well first off it's apparent that The Courteeners aren't about to do things by half. Not only are they about to embark on the tricky second album follow up to the mightily successful "St Jude" but they're also about to go the way of most English bands by burning down the past and making a swift change of musical direction.

Change for 99.9% of English bands is unavoidable, for it was set down in the "BEATLES BLUEPRINT" many moons ago and has to be adhered to, at some stage anyway. [For more about the curse of the Beatles blueprint stay tuned to this channel]. The Beatles obviously waited a bit longer than the Courteeners until album number six-ish and "Rubber Soul" before they burnt down the past and moved on in a more substantial way. "The Jam" had to descend to the lowest ebb of their second "This is the Modern World" album before their sea change came about and threw up the seminal "All Mod Cons". The changes have to be rung out eventually, so let's remain positive, all change is good, yes! Anyway we've neither the time nor the inclination to mention the changes that have gone horribly wrong.

But you're wondering now about the .1% of English bands that have never found it necessary to develop, move on or change but have instead stuck rigidly with the hand that was dealt them on day one. Yes by the .1% I do mean the "Rolling Stones" and "Oasis", the icon painters of English music, some times beautiful but always, absolutely always, producing the same bleedin' picture.

Well you don't need me to tell you about "Cross My Heart & Hope to Fly" because you can go and download it for free and then decide yourself whether you want to keep it or delete it - which is the quite simply the saddest most intrinsically lame way to treat music - hang your heads in shame all who are involved in such nonsense! Also with the advent of the free download the review is DEAD, and what is my opinion worth anyway? You're right, jack shit! But you're going to get it anyway.

Fray's Middleton brogue and Mancunian melody remain on "Cross My Heart and Hope to Fly" along with his borderline Turrets need for the expletive, but the acoustic guitar is history and the music is driven along instead by a simply piano riff, a couple of guitar riffs and a cycle of harmonies with string & synth accompaniment. The B side is a treatment of "Sycophant" a mighty slab of Fray's brand of bloody asinine vitriol set to "the sort of" extremely expensive and vast synth sounds used by "New Order" around the "Brotherhood" period.

And the conclusion is? Well on the evidence of the current single "Falcon" may turn out to be a change too early or a wonderful new begining, we will soon be able to decide. But one thing is for sure Liam Fray and The Courteeners have certainly got balls! They're not going to tread water content to serve up more of the same however easy for them or wonderful for the punter that might be. Stagnation is a slow death - Live fast and leave a beautiful corpse - Cross your heart and hope to fly - You know what I mean - Onward.

Ed