Reef have always been a band you could trust. The West Country's finest foursome are no-nonsense, 'what you see is what you get' purveyors of honest, heartfelt, back-to-basics rock. And yet, though dazzling live performers -their gigs all-consuming affairs awash with adrenalin- they have yet to make the classic Reef album that dedicated followers know is within them.
They've come close. As with 1997's 'Glow' and the glorious euphoria of 'Place Your Hands', 'Summer's In Bloom' and 'Come Back Brighter'. And with 'Getaway', the band's fourth album, they have edged closer still.
Things get off to an impressive start with the gritty, anthemic stomp of recent single 'Set The Record Straight' –a brass daubed celebration of dancing which could easily have been penned for Robbie Williams- and the driving, catchiness of 'Superhero' both sparkling with Kenwyn House's Jimmy Page-like riffs and Jack Bessant's throbbing basslines.
The album's title track meanwhile, with its razor sharp guitars and jaunty Wonder Stuff-ish feel, lauds a lust for life and a need to travel the world which, though clumsily worded - "End up in Baja, on the peninsula, you could take a chance, in the south of France" and "Malaga for £35, Easter Island £400" for example- still has you dancing round the room as you look for your holiday brochures.
'Solid', 'Hold On', 'Won't You Listen' and 'Saturday' are all melodic, robust rockers which breeze by without incident, while the mighty rawk of 'Pretenders' and closing tune 'I Do Not Know What They Will Do' reveal the band's wholesome heart and sense of self-belief with their attacks on fakers in the music industry.
Gary Stringer's caustic, screeching soul tones hold their own throughout the majority of 'Getaway', especially on the Aerosmith-style power balladry of 'All I Want' –all this wants is to be the theme song for a Hollywood all-action blockbuster and they're away- and the album's finest moment 'Levels' a touching tale of fatherhood, Stringer singing "Simple man's pleasure I have today, I see my future that way".
Plenty here then to please and excite lovers of soaring, soulful, traditional rock from a band that does exactly what it says on the tin. And while not that damned elusive classic Reef album, it will do nicely for now.
