The Vaselines – Sex With An X

It’s not a record-breaker, but a twenty-year gap between albums warrants comment; to put it in context, a wall segmented Berlin last time The Vaselines had a new full-length in stores. Things change, in other words, and with Sex With An X’s arrival, two horrible possibilities suggest themselves: that they stubbornly haven’t developed at all or that they’ve changed absolutely.

Thankfully, their re-emergence occupies a glorious middle ground – recognisably the same band yet far fresher than might have been expected (and hornier too – where debut Dum Dum led with Sex Sux (Amen), this record’s title track cheerily proclaims “Feels so good… let’s do it again.”).  I Hate the 80s mines irony lightly, rapping the knuckles of every revivalist with selective memory (“What do you know? You weren’t there - it wasn’t all Duran Duran Duran Duran” they chide), one highlight amongst many. The prospect of another double-decade hiatus is hard to bear. [Chris Buckle]