The Charlatans – My Name Is Despair

You know I still have a soft spot for the Charlatans, as much as a man of a similar age can have for a band led by a 40-something still sporting a pudding bowl haircut anyway. I pretty much lost them way back in the early nineties, mostly after ‘Some Friendly’ and on a graduated scale thereafter. Have seen them bags of times live and they always gave good value but their albums became increasingly colourless after that glorious debut. It got so bad that I didn’t even acknowledge their new arrivals, that was until I read about their novel scheme to give their album ‘You Crossed My Path’ away for free in 2008. Now it’s one thing Yorke and co. adopting this model but another thing altogether for a band like the Charlatans doing the same thing. While the Oxford beards have an ocean of fans to fall back on the ex baggies have seen their base corrode over the years. Regardless it was enough to get me back listening and I actually liked it quite a bit, nothing revolutionary but good songs like ‘My Name Is Despair’ certainly prove that the band have still got something credible to offer. In fact if ‘Kings of Limbs’ is the future then I’ll be soon back looking for the orange one. KD

~~The Charlatans – My Name Is Despair~~

More Info: Official
Buy Songs: The Charlatans
Year: 2008

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