When Tim Burgess and his not-so-merry men first emerged with the rest of the Madchester posse, few would have bet on their still being around and releasing quality albums in 2006. But The Charlatans have shown a chameleonic tendency to wave goodbye to their origins and adapt to the changing musical landscape around them. That’s not to say that Simpatico, their ninth album, has taken its cues from The Killers, The Rakes or whatever this year’s love happens to be. It’s still unquestionably the sound of The Charlatans, but with a few not-so-subtle changes.
The current single ‘Blackened Blue Eyes’ may sound like The Charlatans we’ve come to know and love but it’s something of a rarity here. In a bizarre move, Simpatico is brimming over with reggae influences, and perhaps even more amazingly, most of them work well alongside the band’s traditional, guitar-driven skullduggery.
The almost dub bassline of the pulsatingly dull ‘Muddy Ground’ sits uncomfortably, but the ragga-tinged ‘City Of The Dead’ and ‘The Architect’ work reasonably well, as The Charlatans stretch their musical muscles, coming across like the natural heirs to Joe Strummer and co, without the socio-political ideology.
Burgess’ move to the States has undoubtedly had an influence on their sound, the chug-a-lug guitar and Stones-ish shuffle of the superb dancefloor-filling ‘NYC (There’s No Need To Stop)’ and the swamp blues of ‘Dead Man’s Eye’ showing definite signs of Tim’s American sojourn. Elsewhere, there’s the brooding ‘For Your Entertainment’ and the brilliant ‘When The Lights Go Out In London’, surely a future live favourite and possible single. The pick of the bunch, however, is the gospel-flecked ‘Glory Glory’, showcasing an older, wiser Burgess in all his bruised but tender majesty.
It’s not going to redefine popular music as we know it, but Simpatico is proof that The Charlatans are still kicking out the jams with enough panache and swagger to put many young pretenders to shame.