Lush. One of the figureheads of the "shoegaze" onslaught of the early 90s, Lush branched out wildly with their final album; on Lovelife they turned up the amps, ditched the echo and swirl, and hopped the Britpop bandwagon to chart domination. Lead single "Ladykillers" took a upbeat chickrock approach (not unlike the Throwing Muses/Breeders/Belly sound popular in US indie at the time), "Single Girl" and "500" are awesomely chirpy tunes sweetened with chiming guitar texture, "Last Night" flirts with trip-hop, "Olympia" is a sweeping ballad complete with Bacharach-esque brass arrangement... But it's "Ciao!" that pushes the record over the top, a gleefully bitter kiss-off with Jarvis Cocker lending guest vocals. Put together, it adds up to a prime musical snapshot of an era, an album of pure glistening pop music echoing from the streets of mid-nineties London.
Rialto. Cynical romance, glossy production full of keyboards and guitars, echoes of Bacharach, Brian Ferry and Scott Walker... Some light use of strings, suave tales of rejection and less-than-gallant behaviour in love. Yeah, the Pulp comparisons were inevitable, and kinda dead-on. It also didn't help that they missed the crest of the wave by a good couple years, coming on the scene in 1998 as England's craze for homegrown rock was waning quickly. That being said, there's a lot to like on the two Rialto records (the self-titled debut and Night On Earth); slick urbane intoxicating pop delivered by blokes in well-tailored suits, tunes manufactured specially for late nights or still-awake-next-mornings. The first album is the place to start ("Monday Morning 5:19" is the defining single and "Love Like Semtex" the go-to album track), if you dig that, their second is pretty much more of the same.
Supergrass. Cast from the get-go as the scrappy underdogs of the UK indie horde, Supergrass have since gone on to record six albums, tour constantly, garner great critical acclaim and substantial chart success, and... Well, still be the scrappy underdogs. Which is no bad thing, really. Their mix of early Who energy and momentum, Faces goodtimey bar rock, T. Rex glam swagger, and Kinks-esque pop instincts have led them to be some of the last men standing from the hype-heavy mid-90s Bripop peak. Sometimes overlooked simply by virtue of their consistency and longevity, these three (or four, depending) dudes have built an oeuvre placing them among the best bands of their generation. All their records are at the least really good and more often flat-out great, the first three (I Should Coco, In It For The Money, and the self-titled Supergrass release) probably being most notable for the purpose of this conversation... Required listening: "Alright" from the first record (one of the greatest three-minute encapsulations of youth EVER), "Pumping On Your Stereo" from the third, and pretty much every other single and album track they've released. If you're lazy, the Supergrass Is 10 best-of is an invaluable set of pop brilliance; if you're more adventurous, buy all their albums and play constantly in all weather. Really.
So, there's part two of the Britpop rundown. At least one more installment to come in the near future.
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