Even though British rock music has experienced a full spectrum of musicians over the last 40 years, from Jagger to the Brothers Gallagher, the genre's hairstyle of choice has never seemed to fall out of fashion: the shaggy mop top. Why has this greasy, oftentimes disgusting staple of the Anglo airwaves endured the test of time, not terribly unlike a well-worn pair of Levi's? The answer lies in the midst of scores of better-than-Americans-who-try-to-make-the-same-type-of-music bands who continue to make the ratty do tr‚s chic--bands like Manchester's 12-year-old Charlatans UK. Unlike their denim counterparts, however, these guys (and their hair) have yet to fade.
Off the heels of 1999's critically popular and decidedly harder Us & Us Only, the Charlatans attempt to reestablish their status quo with Wonderland, an album that embraces heavier synthetic beats yet softer instrumentation and often resembles the band's earlier work that carefully trod the Mason-Dixon line of rock and Britpop. Wonderland's infectious opener and high point, "You're So Pretty--We're So Pretty," sounds more like 1992's "Weirdo" than anything on Us & Us Only, an album largely fueled by the band's collective depression following the death of keyboardist Rob Collins. While lead singer Tim Burgess' falsetto twists on the end of many of Wonderland's lyrical lines becomes a tad bit annoying, one must respect a man who can sing "Feed me to the lions/ I'll throw you to the floor." It is precisely this kind of ballsy mentality that has allowed the Charlatans to follow in the footsteps of the prophet Daniel, while numerous others have ended up as nothing more than lion chow.
In other words, Viva la mop top!
