Wannadies: "Bagsy Me" (Indolent) Dial-a-track code: 1311
The Swedish pop invasion continues with this fourth album from the band who brought us last summer's Top 20 hit, You And Me Song. The Wannadies share a soft centre with The Cardigans, hut they add a hard rock edge and driving guitars to tunes like Friends, Shorty, and the recent single Hit. It's not just the usual, predictable Swedepop, however; Someone Somewhere and Oh Yes (It's a Mess) are deceptively easy listening, wrapping subversive sentiments in candy-coated arrangements. Other songs such as What You Want, Damn It I Said and Bumble Bee Boy experiment with jazz improv. rock-a-minimalism and Beatle-bumbling folk.
The Swedes have always built great Volvos, given good massages and served excellent gravadlax, hut they're just getting better and better at this pop lark.
Dion: "The Best of the Gospel Years" Ace Records Dial-a-track code: 1421
Dion is undoubtedly best known for Bronx blues tunes such as Born To Cry, The Wanderer and Runaround Sue. This collection of the best of his 1970s-1980s gospel recordings proves the man easily retained his right to be described as one of the best white vocalists in the history of pop. You may not buy into his concept of God hut substitute whatever positive energy force you like and songs like The Truth Will Set You Free will infiltrate your senses and resonate at that level for the rest of your life. Astoundingly heart-felt recordings. Likewise, I Put Away My Idols, which is the kind of tune Bono may record in his forties. But then this, too, is rock `n' roll, its spiritual essence set to music.
The Supernaturals: "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (Food/Parlophone) Dial-a-track code: 1531
We've had the po-faced second division Britpop bands like Gene and The Bluetones, and now it's time for The Supernaturals to put the smile hack into the sound. These guys are unashamedly jolly, and they prove it song after song, rejecting the cynical stance for a wide-eyed love of pop music in all its silly enriching incarnations. They've reached the charts with the sublimely anachronistic The Day Before Yesterday Man and the rose-tinted Lazy Lover, and tunes like Love Has Passed Away and Stammer flaunt their 1960s influences without slipping into Ocean Colour Scene's stuffed-shirt copyism. Deep and meaningful? Hardly, hut The Supernaturals sure know how to trip the light fantastically.
