The Upper Room - Other People's Problems

The Darkness aren't a glam-metal band – they just play eighties glam the way we'd like to remember it. A quick listen to your older brother's Motley Crue records will reveal that real glam was much, much worse than the current irony-laden model. In contrast, there's nothing on 'Other People's Problems' that couldn't have hit the top ten in 1986 or been included on the 'Say Anything' soundtrack. It's a recreation so note-perfect, right down to its new-wavey guitars and processed sheen, that you'd swear it emerged from a time capsule. If the band's songs weren't just as insanely catchy as the genuine article, or if lead singer Alex Miller's Morrissey impression sounded less heartbreakingly sincere, this would be a terrible album. Maybe it still is, but when you can imitate your musical heroes as flawlessly as the Upper Room do, who needs new ideas? [Andrew Monroe]