One Love

It begins with a Rolling Stones-aping version of "Fool's Gold" and rarely ever strays from its loose, Madchester-blues moves. It's curious how little has changed in almost ten years. Unfortunately, Delakota kind of snuck in under the post-depressive fallout of 1998's Britain, which marks this casual, looping debut with a quiet -- yet undeserved -- indignity. Indeed, scratch underneath the obvious Stone Roses surface and it's clear that there is a lot going on here. The "second summer of love" approach of "Hook, Line & Sinker" or "The Rock" are comforting, the Charlatans and Primal Scream retreads of "Metallic Blue" are not nearly as bad as predicted, but there's even a real prescient touch to "Too Tough" -- an unintentional sneak peek into the collapsing Kid A material Radiohead would try to push two years later -- that really puts the album on a higher shelf than one merely labeled "baggy pants." One Love is nothing new, not something that will shock the Madchester revival. It's simply a well-executed application of record collections and memories formed inside one of the biggest crests in the history of British music. ~ Dean Carlson|