Razorlight - 'Razorlight' (Mercury) Released 17/07/06

Here it is: the equivalent to the summer blockbuster in music sales, the record that’ll be plastered all over HMV and will sit comfortably next to Shane Ward in the charts. For those reasons alone, not to mention Johnny Borrell’s tendency to be a dick, we should hate Razorlight’s new one. But there’s no denying the eponymous follow up to ‘Up All Night’ is jam-packed with emerging classics you’ll be singing as you pick up your morning paper.

Indeed this album is the perfect antidote to that morning-after feeling, as the first single ‘In The Morning’ suggests and as Borrell won’t stop reminding us throughout the tracks. He’s not about to let the party that was ‘Up All Night’ leave him seething with a stonking hangover and as the passion in his voice guides us to ‘Who Needs Love’ (think 10cc’s ‘I’m Not In Love’)  we’re reminded of Borrell’s non-nonsense talent for creating memorable pop hits. You’d think the ego of this man sets him up for a fall but by keeping it simple – catchy chorus, bit of air guitar work in the middle mixed together with a steady beat from Andy Burrows - Borrell’s pulled it off again and that number one won’t be far off.

There are a few anomalies muddled up with the steady hits; the overarching presence of 'America' makes for difficult listening on the track named after the continent itself.  Also the jangling guitar in ‘Kirby’s House’ doesn’t sit well with Borrell’s attempt to be all sentimental as he croons "take me to a house I can live in", there’s even repetition from ‘In The Morning’, making you think the loudmouth’s finally run out of ideas. However, ‘Before I Fall To Pieces’ is genius song-writing and if it’s not the next single then there’s a flaw in Razorlight’s master plan to take over the world. And though Borrell is a fan of the lyrical device better known as ‘OH OH OHHHHH’ in place of actually singing, as witnessed on ‘Back To The Start’, this is again the archetypal mark of a pop hit.

There are a few instances of wasted airtime as scenes and sentences seem to be thrown in carelessly. In ‘Back To The Star’, the story of returning to a former state loses continuity and sense when "lonely day at the railway station…you got to London" makes you think Johnny’s just listened to a Smiths song and thrown it in. Nonetheless, however much you try to resist, this album will be stuck in your CD player and before  you realise it you won't be able to stop singing the songs out loud.  There’s no shame, it would just be nicer if it was a modest fellow receiving all this bloody fame.