Supergrass
In It For The Money (1997)

review by: Chris Orcutt
Date: 11/6/00

For those of you wondering what happened to all the great guitar-based rock & roll of your youth, go out and get yourself this album. It's loaded with the kinds of killer riffs that Jimmy Page would be playing today if he were in his 20s. This album definitely isn't some 70s retread, though; it sounds totally current and fresh.

All of the songs are really good (really!) but some of the blazing, high-energy stuff definitely stands out. "Richard III" opens up with galloping drums and guitars and then launches into this guitar riff that is so simple and so good that it's amazing that no-one has come up with it before. Same story with "Sun Hits the Sky" the first time you hear it, you'll most likely be humming it for days. "Tonight" has to be the ultimate song to play on a Friday night while you're getting ready to go out. And I bought the album for "Cheapskate," which is propelled by some super-smooth guitar and bass playing plus a groovy Hammond organ underneath everything. It's a great rock song and even a great dance song.

These guys are from England and it's a total shame they didn't make it huge here. I think it might be because there are no pretty faces in the band, so they're not really MTV-friendly. When that whole English thing was happening about whether Blur or Oasis was the better British band, someone should've thrown this band into the fight. Supergrass would have kicked the crap out of them both.