I Should Coco

Rolling Stone (8/10/95, p.59) - 3.5 Stars - Good - "...regardless of how silly Supergrass become, the strength of their songwriting always shines through. Combining the best elements of classic British pop and melodic punk, the band leapfrogs decades and spans the gaps with wide, grinning hooks..." Spin (9/95, p.113) - 6 - Reasonably Good - "...Supergrass is a mod band....I SHOULD COCO...works best when [the group] is careering about like Dickensian urchins in smeared lipstick, blinking through hula hoop-size pupils, gleefully anticipating corruption..." Entertainment Weekly (7/21/95, p.64) - "...`Eclectic' doesn't begin to describe the deft plunderings of these barely legal-age lads, who, in their evocation of the Beatles, Bowie, and the Buzzcocks, seem equally at home as glamour-puss fops and snot-nosed hooligans." - Rating: A Q (2/96, p.66) - Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 1995. Q (6/95, p.118) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...petulant middle-class brats with an instinctive grasp of melody, midway between The Clash and Buzzcocks....the more Supergrass reveal of themselves, the more childish things are set aside in favour of an embracing of pop history..." Option (1-2/96, p.120) - "...cobbles together ideas from the record collection, then pieces `em together in not-necessarily-novel but at least catchy arrangements--cheeky thievery being the sincerest form of flattery, of course..." Melody Maker (12/23-30/95, pp.66-67) - Ranked #7 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "...Druggy, deranged, bright-eyed, innocently sleazy, mercilessly addictive. Like mainlining a dose of uncut fun." Mojo (Publisher) (7/95, p.106) - "...I SHOULD COCO is absurdly crammed with musical intelligence....a massive heap of informed rock madness....Supergrass have a unique take on pop music..." NME (Magazine) (12/23-30/95, pp.22-23) - Ranked #6 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995 - "...the 'Grass turned their day-to-day into cartoon, and still had you gasping at the sheer thrill of it..."

Tearing by at a breakneck speed, I Should Coco is a spectacularly eclectic debut by Supergrass, a trio barely out of their teens. Sure, the unbridled energy of the album illustrates that the band is young, yet what really illustrates how young the bandmembers are is how they borrow from their predecessors. Supergrass treat the Buzzcocks, the Beatles, Elton John, David Bowie, Blur, and Madness as if they were all the same thing -- they don't make any distinction between what is cool and what isn't, they just throw everything together. Consequently, the jittery "Caught by the Fuzz" slams next to the music hall rave-up "Mansize Rooster," the trippy psychedelia of "Sofa (Of My Lethargy)," the heavy stomp of "Lenny," and the bona fide teen anthem "Alright." I Should Coco is the sound of adolescence, but performed with a surprising musical versatility that makes the record's exuberant energy all the more infectious. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine