The Charlatans - Simpatico

Bought this yesterday in HMV and have already listened to it three times from start to finish. The Charlatans are never going to be my favourite band or even in my top 20 favourites, but they never fail to create something worth listening to. Comfort music perhaps, a link back to the summer of 1990 when all you heard from my bedroom window was the loose sounds of Madchester. Since 1995 and their eponymous album, the Charlatans have ploughed a furrow of classic rock/funk referencing the Stones through Gram Parsons and Curtis Mayfield with a bit of well studied Dylan thrown in for good measure. The new album is hardly breaking any new ground though there is a spot of "reggae" on Road to Paradise, not their finest three minutes. A good listen and worth spending a few quid on.