The Bluetones - Expecting To Fly download free

In retrospect, this album is almost shockingly unrewarding. Though the Bluetones were lauded by critics at the time and frequently compared to the Stone Roses in gushing articles, they most definitely were never at that level and, as such, doomed to live in the shadow of better groups. To be certain, they had playing skill and brief flashes of actual brilliance. But the group's songwriting was remarkably inconsistent and frequently led to plodding mid-tempo yawners, aimless patchwork quilt songs of dubious lyrical/thematic quality (Mark Morriss' voice is pleasant enough, but lacks dynamic and edge—and his lyrics, while adequate, were used to house thematic material that wasn't really worth singing about in an indie rock band aiming for a Roses-level of sublime.) In the void left by the absence of the Roses, fans and critics alike were really yearning for someone to come along and pick up UK guitar rock at that same level of excellence. The Bluetones were, simply put, ill-equipped to bear that heavy mantle ("Expecting to Fly" indeed.) The best I can say for this album is that it has a few bright moments, best exemplified by their beloved and deserving single "Slight Return" (the video itself is also classic of the entire genre/era), and reasonably decent tracks like "Bluetonic" and "Carnt Be Trusted". The group's other best moments of that period aren't even on the album, "Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?" (non-album single) and "Nae Hair On't" (a b-side.) There was some potential here, but not enough creative juice or songwriting to follow through on the promise on any larger level. My one-sentence review would be: "One single gleaming gem ("Slight Return") in a bag of mostly unremarkable stones."