The Orange Lights - Life is Still Beautiful

The Orange Lights hail from Newcastle, a city reliant upon Paul Smith's motley crew to rescue its musical heritage. However, for all Maximo Park's good work, one struggles to forgive and forget Gazza's Fog on the Tyne - even he famously shed tears over how bad it was (this scribe's purchasing of it as a young and naïve Spurs fan is neither here nor there). So then, the Lights have a lot to do. It's OK though, Life Is Still Beautiful is "the record Richard Ashcroft should have made after... Urban Hymns" we're told – what record's that then? Greatest number of insomniacs cured? Bad puns aside, this album sounds like the band actually tried to make a Verve album. Vocalist Jason Hart does his very best Ashcroft impression, whilst gentle guitars and occasional McCabe-esque overlays are transparent in their influences. In the end though, it just sounds Like Embrace without the... ahem... raw passion. Not possible? With one half of the ex-Lighthouse Family on board, such heinous depths are easily achieved. [Jon Seller]