The Long Blondes - Someone To Drive You Home

As if any confirmation was needed, here is yet more – the New Britpop wagon is free-wheel rolling into town. The Long Blondes are a 2006 approximation of Elastica and Blondie, using glam guitars and lipstick'd vocals to convey big sisterly advice and ex-girlfriend jealousy. Indie disco kids have been falling over themselves to unwrap 'Someone To Drive You Home', and they'll love it - the Long Blondes have achieved their sinisterly poptastic goals. Rock bands do albums, pop bands do singles and Long Blondes do singles like veteran pros. As a 12-track compilation of perfect pop then, 'Someone To Drive You Home' succeeds – especially the blissfully-hooked Giddy Stratospheres, and ecstatic singalong Separated By Motorways, both having plenty enough fizz to be chart-toppers. Problem is, it's so reminiscent of Blondie's magnficient 'Parallel Lines'; what at once is immediately appealing soon becomes tiresome through overexposure. It's catchy, but it's also appropriation (by any other name). [Ally Brown]