Single Reviews 09/10/06

Kids! Time to come in! Your Single Reviews are on the table! And if you don’t finish them, you don’t get any dessert.

Back with what has to be one of the most implausibly daft schemes in contemporary music, My Chemical Romance establish their forthcoming joke of concept album with Welcome To The Black Parade. Apparently it’s about one man’s realisation of his own mortality in the shadows of the afterlife, but comes off like a French & Saunders parody of Beetlejuice. Absolutely fucking horrendous. Semi-props to them for not being another Panic At The Disco, mind.

Another band who should be commended for not resting on their laurels are Placebo, whose new single Meds is about as far from the majesty of Nancy Boy or Every You Every Me as is humanly possible. It’s certainly nowhere as immediate or as capable, but with the acidic purr of Alison Lockhart on guest vocals combined with the tense, rolling licks, it’s more than enough to warrant our Single of the Week honour.

Inducing comas up and down the country, it’s a wonder Corinne Bailey Rae hasn’t been given a life sentence. Producing yet another snooze-along that fails to equal the fluorescent folk of Put Your Records On, the puny Like A Star will probably be the one track to kill most dinner parties throughout middle England since the Lighthouse Family’s Lifted.

Somehow warranting a re-release this week is Over & Over, a demonstration of the lukewarm electro-goof sounds of Hot Chip. We’d put money on this becoming one of those tracks that becomes a perennial re-issue of desperation, a la Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls, or Longview’s Further. Reckon if we ask Ladbrokes nicely, it might happen?

Finally, a world of bless for the admirable attempts of Blazin’ Squad, taking another stab at reclaiming their titles as crown princes of chavdom, despite being bereft of a couple of members. Well, 60% of their members, to be precise. Whether the presence of Kenzie would have improved their chances remains an enigma, but it’s safe to say All Night Long is flimsy, pointless crap-hop in any incarnation. Gottta love that determination though, eh?