Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 31/03/08
Label: Polydor

A few excitable people have been talking about the atrociously named Courteeners as a new Oasis, which isn't so much off the mark as in the wrong postcode, if this single is anything to go by. Not only does "Not Nineteen Forever" lack that band's simple gift for melody, as well as their lyrical "hug the world" universality, but their wiry, nervy sound is much closer to the old indie that predated Oasis before they (temporarily at least) swept it all away.

It opens with a chiming, longing riff before settling into a brisk jangle, over which singer Liam Fray hoarsely sketches a story of adolescent lust and frustration. Stephen Street produces, but the lo-fi sound here is miles away from the high gloss coat with which he painted Morrissey and Blur. And while "Not Nineteen Forever" is oddly moving in a low-key way, it's nothing like as elegant or beautiful as Glasvegas, their closest rivals in theme and sound.

    by Jaime Gill