AOB: CD of the Week

The Charlatans - You Cross My Path

I like to think of the Charlatans as my musical comfort blanket.


I'm sure this isn't the highest accolade Tim Burgess and Co have ever received, but that doesn't make it any less true. In an ever-changing music industry packed with scruffy-haired teenagers trying a bit too hard to be 'wacky', the Charlatans just get on with what they do best; namely making innovative, high quality, music.


Unlike many veteran (despite Burgess's ageless features, they certainly qualify for this tag after 18 years on the road) rockers, the Charlies are not afraid to move with the times, and have made their tenth studio album, You Cross My Path, available as a free download, with a CD version set to follow later in the year.

Manager Alan McGee claims this is the bands best work since 1997’s epic Tellin’ Stories, a bold statement given the quality of more recent albums such as funky opus Wonderland and the tub thumping Up at the Lake.


Fortunately You Cross My Path doesn’t disappoint. Burgess is never one to rest on his on his laurels, and the band have moved away from the grimy undertones of last record, Simpatico, back towards the high-energy sound that characterised their earlier work.


The slow-burning Oh Vanity is not an archetypal opening track, but any song containing the line "Now I'm all grown up to be/a paranoid schizophrenic" (trust me, it rhymes) can't be bad. The tempo is soon upped thanks to the frantic drum-intro on the albums high point, Mis-takes, while Missing Beats (of a Generation) is another outstanding track which will surely cement a place in the bands live catalogue.


Download You Cross My Path here.


Top Tune: Mis-takes


U's Blog Rating: 4/5