It’s nice to be proved wrong sometimes. Back in the mists of time (specifically the dawn of 1990), THE CHARLATANS were being hotly-tipped by my old rag ‘Sounds’ and threatening to grab their fifteen minutes on the coat-tails of what had just been dubbed the “Madchester” explosion by those in the know.
I remember seeing young Tim Burgess and the boys a few times around then. They were good enough. The late Rob Collins’ full-blooded Hammond organ dominated most of the songs, Burgess had the lips and the presence and collectively they had ‘The Only One I Know’ which remains one of the songs defining the era. These will get a year or two out of it, I thought. Then they’ll probably get proper jobs.
Fast forward two decades. The Charlatans may never have made an album quite as seismically-regarded as ‘The Stone Roses’ or ‘Pills, Thrills’ n’ Bellyaches’, but they’ve endured, made consistently cool records and survived – often against unbelievable odds. Over those two decades they’ve quietly become one of my favourite bands and their 11th studio album (wow!) ‘Who We Touch’ again finds them admirably stretching themselves.
Produced by the omnipresent Youth (Paul McCartney, The Verve, Primal Scream) and recorded at Islington’s Britannia Row studio (Pink Floyd, Joy Division’s ‘Closer’), ‘Who We Touch’ comes housed in a slightly sinister sleeve designed, intriguingly, by Gee Vaucher who put together all those provocative collage-style sleeves for Crass.
Trailer single ‘Love Is Ending’ kicks us off. It’s confident, hi-octane stuff and as hard and proud as Tim and the lads have been for ages, judiciously updating that durable ‘In The City’/ ‘Holidays In The Sun’ riff for a new generation. It’s great, though its’ garage-style energy only flits in and out as the album unfolds.
There are a couple of other obvious single contenders. ‘My Foolish Pride’ is a sturdy slice of catchy Indie Motown (complete with slightly incongruous “make love, not war!” hook-line), while ‘Sincerity’ also rocks hard and hypnotically and unleashes a stinging chorus. Elsewhere, tracks like ‘Trust & Desire’ and ‘When I Wonder’ require a little time and effort, but they gradually display their slow-burning, anthemic colours and end up sounding ideal for an airing in a big field near you.
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Occasionally, the sonic hieroglyphics are a bit harder to decipher. Despite the Crass-style title, ‘Smash The System’ sounds lumbering and world-weary rather than an obvious call to arms (“I know I should play your game, but I don’t deal with crooks” sings Burgess at one point), while ‘Intimacy’ suffers from some clunky lyrics (basically anything rhyming with “intimacy”), although its’ svelte creep of a groove gradually gets under your skin and it wins its’ passage into your heart.
More challenging again is the home strait featuring the tracks ‘Oh!’ and ‘You Can Swim.’ The former is the most ambitious thing here, sometimes sounding more like Portishead than The Charlatans, but it has a real aquatic beauty about it, as does the ambient ooze of the Brian Eno-ish ‘You Can Swim’ which allows the album to dream its’ way to a serene conclusion. Well, unless you include the bizarre secret track ‘I Sing The Body Eclectic’ featuring Crass’s Penny Rimbaud’s odd, Aleister Crowley-ish invocations. But then it is a secret track and not officially part of the running order.
Veteran bands new releases often come with press releases proclaiming their new record to be their boldest yet. In that sense, ‘Who We Touch’ is no exception. However, it really does continue to break new ground and truly satisfies after a few listens. After my initial prognosis, it’s hard to believe I’m writing about The Charlatans twenty years on, but it gives me a real glow to report that they are still relevant and still frequently inspired. I’m still very much touched by their presence, dear.
The Charlatans online
*This review is dedicated to Hannah Fleury, who died on 24th August 2010. Her world was greatly touched by The Charlatans.
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