| "We are young / we are free / Keep our teeth / nice and clean" is hardly an incendiary motto, but the lyrics to "Alright" rather summed up Supergrass' influential Britpop statement of intent, I Should Coco. It's about being young, about riding on buses, about smoking cigarettes and about getting a little bit tipsy. Harmless fun, even if it does involve being caught with a little bit of hash, as frontman Gaz Coombes memorably recounts on "Caught By The Fuzz". What makes Supergrass' debut so much more important than, say, Menswear's debut album, though, is that I Should Coco sounds every inch an unforced classic. "I'd Like To Know" and "Caught By The Fuzz" clatter along with vintage punk cheer, but later "Time" and "She's So Loose" demonstrate a mellow capacity for reflection. I Should Coco is so much more than kid's stuff; it's an almost too-perfect snapshot of adolescence. --Louis Pattison |
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