| Want to relive the past? For heaven's sake, learn restraint. Don't mar your production with fancy digital frills. Be like Ocean Colour Scene. OCS know when to pitch a note, and when to stand back. They might've been unfairly tarnished with the "Dad Rock" badge because of their association with mentor Paul Weller (Weller sings back-up on one song here, the blissfully low-key "No One at All"), but they have the authentic, rootsy feel of the 60s white-boy beat groups down pat. On songs like the anti-war, defiant "Profit in Peace" and solipsistic "Emily Chambers", OCS prove that the lessons they've learnt at the hands of The Small Faces, The Spencer Davis Group and The Yardbirds, they've learnt well. One From the Modern is a mini-masterpiece of restraint and passion, albeit passion displayed through a rosy-tinted, time-distorted lens. Half the songs here could be mistaken for Pebbles-era garage classics. And that's some compliment. --Everett True |
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