Supergrass — Diamond Hoo Ha

My rule on music careers from artists I love is, you give me four great records and I'll excuse whatever comes after, before or in between — or rather, I'll simply forget it. That's my feeling on Road To Rouen, Supergrass's last full-length and hands down their worst. It's with complete surprise and delight that Diamond Hoo Ha is absolutely nothing like its predecessor. It's full of the pounding energy that drove the group's first three albums, though musically closer to Life On Other Planets. The key is that Diamond Hoo Ha is fun. It's not intellectual (the title kind of rules that out straight away), the melodies are retardedly catchy and Gaz Coombes sounds as excited to be fronting a rock band as he did on In It For The Money. Ultimately, Diamond Hoo Ha stands comfortably among the band's first three classics and possibly taller than LOOP, thanks to dynamos "345" and the album-closing "Butterfly."

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