The Bluetones – ‘My Neighbours House’ (Cooking Vinyl) Released 02/10/06

Once, there was a time when the Morris brothers wrote the kind of towering anthems that deservedly put them in the frame as one of the UK’s finest upcoming indie guitar bands. It’d be unrealistic to expect their blue-tinged world to remain unchanged, but 10 years after the release of mighty debut ‘Expecting To Fly’, and the ‘tones are at a crossroads.

Kudos for surviving every fad since Britpop’s demise, but ‘My Neighbour’s House’ is as intriguing as its title. Bursts of surging, Noel Gallagher-ish guitars and impassioned vocals aside, there’s little here to attract new fans, or stop the faithful reaching for their copy of ‘Bluetonic’. It’s a dangerous business for any band to trade on former glories, but when its personnel are capable of so much more, it’s positively criminal.