Some Friendly

We Say...

Review by Matt Hendrickson

In 1994 in a lower Manhattan loft, a short man with shaggy hair was tending bar. “Fancy a drink?” he asked, breaking into a Cheshire Cat-like grin. Having completed his mixology, the man — it was Charlatans U.K. frontman Tim Burgess — sidled up, in his infamous loping gait, to the lucky recipient. “That’ll do you right,” he declared. It did, and it wasn’t the first time Burgess aced it. His bountiful rock star charisma on display that night was on the same level as it was four years previously, onstage at Boston’s Paradise Club. On one of their first headlining shows in the U.S., Burgess owned it, leading the band on a blistering tear through their debut, Some Friendly.

In the "Madchester" scene of the late '80s, the Stone Roses might have been the kings and the Happy Mondays corralled all the drug-soaked headlines, but the Charlatans had the groove. Sure, Some Friendly owed a lot to the Roses’ epic “Fools Gold,” but the Charlies expanded beyond that drone, deftly mixing the late Rob Collins’ keyboard wizardry, jangly guitars and Burgess’ coy delivery. Tracks like the moody opener “You’re Not Very Well” and the 120 Minutes fave “The Only One I Know,” swirl grandly, like if Phish had taken ‘shrooms in the Midlands rather than the hills of Vermont. If they had cared enough, the Charlies had the chops to be the U.K.’s Phish or the Dead and it’s no more apparent than on the album's epic closer, “Sproston Green.” As the organ chimes fervently and the guitars build, Burgess remains restrained, letting the song explode at its euphoric end, proving that a true rock star knows when to take a back seat to the groove.