Artists
Biography
Cornershop have split. For good. That was the headline four years ago when, fed up with the stress generated by the success of the album When I Was Born For The 7th Time, and in particular the worldwide smash, "Brimful Of Asha", frontman Tjinder Singh decided to call it a day.
They went on to pursue serious side-projects (most notably Clinton) and it must have seemed that Cornershop was gone for good. Then, at the beginning of 2001, word began to trickle out that they were back together. The recordings, the rumour ran, would be "very Stax-influenced". And this very nearly hits the nail on the head.
Handcream For a Generation is the sound of Booker T And The MGs landing right in the middle of the 21st century, led by a man who increasingly seems like some kind of Lou Reed / Bob Marley hybrid. It's such an ambitious record that it's hard to know where to place it in terms of genre. It celebrates the old whilst delivering the new.
Beginning and ending with "Heavy Soup", this affectionate homage to "Soul Kitchen" sounds so immediately fresh that it's hard to resist putting the track on again immediately. And the majority of this wonderful record provokes a similar impulse. There is a constant feel of spontaneity within the grooves - throughout, you get the feeling that anything could happen; it's like listening to a pirate radio station.
The whole thing sounds like it could collapse around Cornershop's ears at any moment (witness the false start of "Motion The 11") but this only makes the listener will them on even more. Very rarely have I felt like leaping to my feet whilst listening to a record for the first time and shouting "Go on, you can do it", but moments like these occur several times during the course of the record.
When you think of the "musical growth rate" of this band from, their progression from where they started, well, lets just say it's the opposite to Spinal Tap, and yet rocks just as hard (check first single "Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III").
This is a political album, but it is shot through with the kind of humour and warmth rarely seen since the days of Sly And The Family Stone. "People Power" and "The London Radar" are more disco than Pulp could ever dream of being.
Sonically, the band's palette stretches for miles - uninhibited by any desire to fit into any music industry marketing niche; in fact, they state that "they understand guns in the A&R office". It is this kind of cheek that makes HFAG so marvellous. I don't know what Tjinder is singing on "Spectral Mornings" but you can bet your bottom dollar it's a little bit naughty. Oh, and I'm putting money on "Staging the Plaguing of the Raised Platform" being a number one should they choose to release it - it's joyous.
There's just one problem. If there's any justice, this album is going to be massive - worldwide. So, will Cornershop live to make another record? Let's hope so. This one might just be the best album made by a British band since Screamadelica.
They went on to pursue serious side-projects (most notably Clinton) and it must have seemed that Cornershop was gone for good. Then, at the beginning of 2001, word began to trickle out that they were back together. The recordings, the rumour ran, would be "very Stax-influenced". And this very nearly hits the nail on the head.
Handcream For a Generation is the sound of Booker T And The MGs landing right in the middle of the 21st century, led by a man who increasingly seems like some kind of Lou Reed / Bob Marley hybrid. It's such an ambitious record that it's hard to know where to place it in terms of genre. It celebrates the old whilst delivering the new.
Beginning and ending with "Heavy Soup", this affectionate homage to "Soul Kitchen" sounds so immediately fresh that it's hard to resist putting the track on again immediately. And the majority of this wonderful record provokes a similar impulse. There is a constant feel of spontaneity within the grooves - throughout, you get the feeling that anything could happen; it's like listening to a pirate radio station.
The whole thing sounds like it could collapse around Cornershop's ears at any moment (witness the false start of "Motion The 11") but this only makes the listener will them on even more. Very rarely have I felt like leaping to my feet whilst listening to a record for the first time and shouting "Go on, you can do it", but moments like these occur several times during the course of the record.
When you think of the "musical growth rate" of this band from, their progression from where they started, well, lets just say it's the opposite to Spinal Tap, and yet rocks just as hard (check first single "Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III").
This is a political album, but it is shot through with the kind of humour and warmth rarely seen since the days of Sly And The Family Stone. "People Power" and "The London Radar" are more disco than Pulp could ever dream of being.
Sonically, the band's palette stretches for miles - uninhibited by any desire to fit into any music industry marketing niche; in fact, they state that "they understand guns in the A&R office". It is this kind of cheek that makes HFAG so marvellous. I don't know what Tjinder is singing on "Spectral Mornings" but you can bet your bottom dollar it's a little bit naughty. Oh, and I'm putting money on "Staging the Plaguing of the Raised Platform" being a number one should they choose to release it - it's joyous.
There's just one problem. If there's any justice, this album is going to be massive - worldwide. So, will Cornershop live to make another record? Let's hope so. This one might just be the best album made by a British band since Screamadelica.