Uncut (p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 - "By far and away the most fun and musically savvy of the Britpop set....All in all, another album of low-key brilliance."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.63) - Ranked #40 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2005" - "Hungarian folk music and scratchy funk jostled deft pop and gently textured psych."
Supergrass: Gaz Coombes (vocals, guitar); Mick Quinn (vocals, bass guitar); Robert Coombes (keyboards); Danny Goffey (drums).
Recording information: Studio St. Mard, France (2005).
Arranger: Simon Hale.
Supergrass's fifth studio album, recorded after a series of unfortunate public and private setbacks including drummer Danny Goffey's tussle with the British tabloids and the death of vocalist Gaz Coombes's mother, finds the band at its assured best. It's both a consolidation of the group's wide range of influences (notably the Beatles, on tracks like the Lennon-esque "Low C") and a journey through unexplored territory, the latter best illustrated by the album's opener, "Tales of Endurance (Parts 4, 5 & 6), where a neo-psychedelic intro rapidly morphs into a riff-heavy coda simultaneously reminiscent of rock warhorses Led Zeppelin and the cutting edge post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand.