The Polyphonic Spree

It's amazing what a bit of television coverage over the Glastonbury weekend can do.

Just over six months ago, the Polyphonic Spree played here to little over 200 aghast spectators, yet a few features in the daily press later and every man and his dog appears to be sporting ridiculously oversized white dressing gowns.

Still, tomorrow night the "Tommy combo" (that's Hillfiger and Burberry) will be back on parade as they strut their stuff at their regular Ritzy _haunt.

Which probably explains the stifled groans and bemused frowns that greet Hope Of The States' eccentric interplanetary overdrive. Sometimes they sound like The Beta Band* rewriting the whole of _'Pet Sounds'_ to the tune of an old Levellers* record, other times it would be easier to just label them as an amalgam of Grandaddy* and The Cooper Temple Clause* and have done with it, while the rest of the time they sound like the whole bloody lot - usually during the same song!

The slightly more familiar tones of Colin MacIntyre's Mull Historical Society are greeted like a long lost brother in comparison, which seems to inspire the wee Scotsman in such a way that mournful ballads like 'I Tried' become first class graduates from St.Lemmy's Comprehensive's rock beast curriculum, while 'Watching Xanadu' and 'Animal Cannabus' are just...perfect pop.

Having the Polyphonic Spree round your house for an evening is probably akin to combining your 18th and 21st birthday parties with New Year’s Eve, while still finding time to meet the girl/boy of your dreams and get hitched before midnight sets in.

Sadly, every party must have a pooper, and far be it for me to cast myself in that role and criticise The ‘Spree, but tonight the joke starts to wear a little thin.

Don’t get me wrong, Tim Delaughter is possibly the most captivating frontman treading the circuit today, a guy who was seemingly born to provide sunshine and happiness and little fwuffy bunnies from heaven but….WE WANT SOME TUNES, MAN!_

Of course there’s ‘Hanging Around’ and ‘Light And Day’ and ‘Soldier Girl’ (re-re-re-re-released for the 846th time this century) while their cover of Bowie’s ‘Five Years’ usurps the original in terms of grandiosity, yet despite the lavish cabaret and countless shiny happy people on stage, three songs do not an hour and half’s worth of entertainment make, and unless the boy Delaughter_ and his 23 accomplices come up with a few more ditties to rival said aforementioned gems, a place in the Woolworths Novelty Bargain Bin Premier League alongside such stalwarts as Electric Six* and the Fast Food Rockers* surely beckons.