Reviews Suburban Rock 'n' Roll - March 2004 - BBC

It's difficult to believe that anyone would be mad enough to finance another Space album, but it seems that someone has, and so the Scouse Beautiful South return after a four year absence to, well, muted celebrations at best.

It's little surprise that the excitement is barely noticeable. Suburban Rock 'N' Roll throws up many questions but the loudest shout amongst them is a simple why?

It's not the music that's the problem. That is the usual mix of jingly-jangly guitar and upbeat indie that infested their best known tracks Neighbourhood, Female of The Species, Avenging Angels and the like.

The major mistake lies where it always has with Space, deep in the heart of the ever-so clever clever sub-Paul Heaton witticisms, that hurtle at your ears like a sixth form poetry show. Whether it's "I think this time I've gone too far/Like Sam Peckinpah" from Hitchhiking, "I am the only witness/In the defence of the death/Of our Rock and our Roll" from Pretty Suicide, or "If you think that chick is insane/Put a stamp on her/And send her off to Elvis", the examples of abysmal writing litter the collection.

The whole thing reaches its nadir in the unbelievable The English Language, a tale of illegal immigrants so embarrassingly cack-handed that it actually contains the lines "Some wish we were never born/Just because their curtains are all drawn/On time". You may begin shaking your head now.

Quite what possessed Randm to put up the cash for Suburban Rock 'N' Roll is anyone's guess, but they really shouldn't have. This is less a case of releasing a new album, than inflicting one. (Chris Long)

Original Article available here
Source: BBC