Be honest, if Chris Tarrant approached you in the street a year ago, in an attempt to rekindle flickering interest in his quiz show and said to you; “I will give you a million pounds if you can name one band who will flounder miserably after their first album?”. You would have had no compunction in naming and shaming the whacky Welsh rappers GLC. However, on one listen of this album Chris Tarrant would just utter the words; “You have just lost a million pounds; the correct answer was The Kaiser Chiefs”.
Previous single; ‘Your Missus Is A Nutter’ continues the irreverent musical frolicking, but also adds a soulful touch to help hit home the piercing but good humoured attack at a femme fatale. The political mantle is picked up and then dropped again because they have a bad back, in the jilting jingle that hits out at the American nature of small claims court and money grabbing users and abusers of it;
“If you wanna make money then you gotta think fast, phone Claims Direct cos there’s a nail in your arse.
It’s very simple this is one step of two, first hurt yourself then claim you wanna sue.”
A roving and twanging backdrop of the Grange Hill theme tune, is funked up to allow Hatsy, Eggs, Adam, Mysty, Xain and Maggot to spew out advice to male gatherers about the ancient art of pulling in 'Charm School'. There is more irony on this album than in the entire works of Oscar Wilde. There is also surprising variety with slow and thumping numbers mixing in like tequila and draw, with the hard hitting fast paced piss takes. GLC don’t sing about flowers, simply because they stop the weed growing I guess, this is a theme that runs through the album like fear through poor Shelley from Corrie. ‘Hit Song’ is a delicious parody about temporary tunes that you hear and don’t care to remember, it is as though someone has injected Public Enemy and Run DMC with some soulful rhythm and demonstrates the craft of this outfit that will equate to staying power in years to come
A montage of wacky pictures decorates the inner sleeve of this offering that resembles what it would be like at Pete Doherty’s stag do. This gives an added dimension to the weird, fun and frolicking world of this refreshing and bubbling outfit.
