Is Britain on an unstoppable nostalgia ride? With charts full of cover versions, and this revival of a revival, it seems that British guitar-led pop has lost its world-leading status. "The Crescent"s opening track "On The Run" is the band's biggest commercial success to date, helped in no small part by its' almost parodic similarity to The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No)Satisfaction" and singer/songwriter Wayne Whitfield's choice of vocabulary; "action" ryhmed with "fraction" and "attraction."
The Crescent make no bones about their influences, happily name-checking the highlights of British popular music since 1960. Yet tracks like "Wake Up" see them merely creating a pale version of 1990s classic indie such as The Stone Roses, Oasis and The La's. Perhaps this adulation is understandable given that three-quarters of The Crescent were the one time backing band for Lee Mavers, yet they lack the internal tension and ultimate sense of resolution which makes fine bands stand out - instead, they are happy to amble along with the inoffensive, but criminally forgettable tracks which make up the bulk of the album.
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The Crescent have also been afforded the chance to record this album in Abbey Road Studios, as a homage to The Beatles, but given the quality of sound they achieve throughout, it seems to this reviewer that the money would be better spent allowing the band to develop their own maturity gradually: the use of horns, strings, harmonicas and hammond organs simply give the impression that the producer has attempted to artificially inject soem much needed depth. In addition, the recordings do little to flatter Wayne's powerful and distinctive singing voice, burying it under a series of terribly-mixed guitar solos and drums.
However, as Wayne himself says: "My favourite bands like The Beatles started like us." Sadly, with nothing new to say, this music is irrelevant forty years later.
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