It may be a crass regional stereotype to assume that Liverpudlian songsmiths are the undisputed kings of catchy, but it's certainly not anything that the current clutch of Scouse outfits are going out of their way to disprove. And it's The Zutons that appear the most contagious of the lot.
'You will, You Won't', their fourth single, is an unrepentant cartoonish blues-stomp that conjures delightful images of the cast of 'Sesame Street' invading the set of 'The Commitments'. (I can see it now, Big Bird kicking the shit out of that pony-tailed crooner.) That a beautifully cracked voice McCartneyesque chorus flowers from the mayhem is something we probably don't expect or deserve.
It has to be said that the stunted, unilateral groove that drives this mutha along is not a million miles away from 'Smoke On The Water', and many of you will have trouble reconciling that as 'a good thing.'
Still, this is endearing kooky, incorrigibly quirky and interminably catchy. In the finest Devo tradition, it's silliness with a straight face.
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8Anthony Smith's Score