Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 05/05/08
Label: Cooking Vinyl

Listening to The Charlatans' "The Misbegotten" in 2008 is like wandering into a battered old pub you've occasionally frequented over the last 15 years and thinking "bloody hell, have they STILL not changed anything?" Same old tatty organ underfoot, same lyrical gobbledegook peeling slowly off the wall, same limited selection of melodic draughts and sonic shots, same stale '60s smell in the air. And, of course, the same old affable landlord with the big smile and the thin whine of a voice.

But actually, look closer, and a bit of half-hearted work has been done around the place, mostly courtesy of those nice New Order lads down the road. There's a little bit of techno upholstery here, a vocal hook kindly donated by Bernard Sumner on prominent display, and a bit of plunging Peter Hook bass filling those cracks in the walls. But none of it is enough to shake off the sense of something long past its sell by date, however cosily familiar.

    by Jaime Gill