Three star

THE Stereos' fourth album has hit written all over it - their signature jangly rock sound is there in spades on tracks like Help Me (She's Out Of Her Mind), current chart success Madame Helga and High As The Ceiling.

Their career began to climb at the end of the Britpop era and they achieved huge success with their second album Performance and Cocktails, followed by Just Enough Education to Perform.

They don't disappoint with this latest offering, but what are they rambling on about?

As songwriter and singer Kelly Jones says on the album sleeve, 'Every song was recorded the same way. Very spontaneous, very raw and very fast. A song a day.'

And it shows. This spontaneity and rawness does have some appeal but it also makes the album seem a bit hurried and like they're trying too hard without really trying at all.

And if you think this statement makes no sense, try getting to grips with some of the wonderfully obscure lyrics, like 'fallen angels from their pay cheques on parade' (Climbing the Wall).

Either he's trying to come over all intellectual and I've missed the point entirely or he just wrote down the first thing that came into his head.

MC