The Beta Band

Musicians have always had a fruitful creative relationship with insanity. It can feed and fuel great music. On the other hand, some people are so off-the-wall, that they can't possibly connect with anyone. Welcome to The Beta Band.

Listening to this record is like hearing a bunch of close mates getting wrecked and cracking each other up with in-jokes.

The first half is, at times, excruciating, with repeated listening confusing you even more. Then in the final four tracks The Beta Band remind you why they were so vital in the first place. 'Smiling' hits the whacked out groove that made their EPs so essential. 'Number 15' rages against an ex, suggesting that if they went easier on the wackiness and looked into their hearts more they could come up with classics. 'The Hard One' shows the full, glorious extent of The Betas' (occasional) genius, looping Bonnie Tyler's piano melody of 'Total Eclipse of The Heart' around the haunting mantra "Once upon a time I was falling apart/ now I'm always falling in love".

The leave us with 'The Cow's Wrong', the most bearable crackpot opus. "I fucked it up" sings Steve Mason repeatedly at the album's end. Yeah, sure you did, but it sounds like you wanted to.