Old Pair Of Brit

Aw, the '90s. What a wonderful decade it was, the era when britpop was ruling the world... But let's forget about nostalgia and concentrate on the present. That would be the just-released-brand-new-oh-my-God-it-is-the-ninth album of Ocean Colour Scene, called Saturday. And I bet that, as soon as you read Ocean Colour Scene, your mind already flew back (again) in the days when Noel and Liam could still hang out with each other. Rrrrrright, enough bitching.

And there we go, jumping from nostalgia to nostalgia... because if we say OCS, we also say the '60s. It hits you even from the beginning, on 100 Floors of Perception and it becomes even more clear on the next track, Mrs Maylie (or "The Beatles Resurrection"). Fortunately, right when you start to ask yourself what's up with these ghosts from the past, you quickly receive the proof that they are a little bit more than just an imitation. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands up in the air for Magic Carpet Days – a wonderful choice for a single (and with no Beatles around, not that it would be a bad thing). Plus, the lyrics are interesting and really inspired at certain points: "I wish you didn't get hung up so easily / When you're bound fall apart you always fall apart at the seams / So worn and so torn like an old pair of jeans" (Old Pair of Jeans) – and that's just an example.

Unfortunately, when you reach the end, you start to realise they actually don't come with anything new. Sure, it's a good album, with nice, well-composed, catchy, interesting [insert whatever positive appreciation you like here] tunes, but it sounds nothing different from their previous releases, or at least the differences are insignificant. Of course, change is not always good, but neither is the stagnation. And that's how it is: Saturday is an okay album, with no major mistakes. Just an okay album and perhaps the answer to the question why is Oasis a much more well-known band than OCS.

*photo courtesy of Ocean Colour Scene official site