Released on 05/04/04
Label: Deltasonic

Easy to dismiss as yet more old-before-their-time carriers of the ‘mystic scouse’ flame The Zutons are actually a cut above their Liverpudlian peers. Their press photos may pre-empt current cinematic vogue for all things zombified, but when it comes to making twisted scallydelic Merseybeat they’re up there with the best of them.

A sprawling loose-limbed jam – with a sprinkling of both Madness and the Happy Mondays, “You Will You Won’t” is a fine single. Funky enough to induce strange loping dance steps it is also, importantly, free of the antique 60’s dust that chokes so many records from this part of the world.

Where else – outside of the dankest Louisianan swamp – would a band consider using the splendid phrase “dipsydoodle rag”? Do they teach "Trout Mask Replica" on the school syllabus up there, or what?

    by Adam Webb