The Thrills - So Much For The City

So much for the city - a rejection of the past 20 years of music despite their professed love of Beck and Air. In other words - lowest common denominator guitar pop to follow in the footsteps of Travis and Starsailor and no doubt be lapped up by check shirted local boys who stand in awe at the fact that ordinary lads like them can make something of their life instead of working down the factory. The Thrills are the indie equivalent of One True Voice and that's an insult to OTV because at least one member of the reality TV show band has a personality and if any readers care's to name one interesting fact about the Thrills then there's a prize in the post for you.

What's shocking is that Morrissey personally invited them to support him at the Royal Albert Hall. Remember after all this is a guy who grew up in working class Manchester, retreated to his own world of Oscar Wilde and the New York Dolls and changed the face of British music for ever. Now in 2003 we find he's still harping on about the same old same old and dragging bands like the Thrills out of the sticks. It's true there's something charming about the singles "Big Sur", "One Horse Town" and "Santa Cruz", but across the space of an album they show that they simply can't drag out the formula and sustain interest. So many records sum up the feelings you get when the sun is shining bright and the ale is flowing and "So Much For The City" doesn't come close to "Wake Up" by the Boo Radleys, "Summer Strut" by the Blondes or any record by Teenage Fanclub. That is of course before you work your way back to the Beach Boys and The Byrds and actually are confronted with the fact that the band are offering nothing of their own personalities or even interpreting the records they grew up with, the garage scene at least has an kinetic energy which can't help but rub off on the listener.

This is the nail in the coffin of the music industry. There was a time when A&R guys would actually take a leap into the unknown and discover bands with personalities and a desire to change the world. How can you expect people to spend their hard earned cash on what is essentially a nightmare worse than the combined forces of Toploader, Jamie Oliver and that f**king overpriced Supermarket. The Thrills are the worst thing to happen to music in years!!!

Alex McCann

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