The Charlatans - You Cross My Path

The Charlatans, along with the Manics and Oases of this world, are a band content to plough the same musical furrow ad infinitum. And while perseverance should be celebrated when it reaps consistently good produce - such as 2001's Wonderland - it's very easy to become indifferent to such Britpop survivors when the quality of the songwriting inevitably wanes. You Cross My Path, the tenth album from Tim Burgess and his West Midlander brethren, feels like the inevitable waning. At a juncture when they should be reminding us of their relevance, they have tossed off a tame and tired album that will soon collect dust on your shelf. Their '60s aping style remains in the constant, whirling organ, but the choruses are lacklustre and even the mix sounds mis-balanced, drowning out Burgess's vocals in places. The title track briefly evokes their former swagger, but what are they trying to tell us with an album closer called This Is The End? [Nick Mitchell]