Turbula
Online since August 2002
Music

Not quite there

Reviewed July 2006

Simpatico
Simpatico
By The Charlatans UK

Creole / Sanctuary Records: 2006

To hear sound clips or learn more about this release, Turbula recommends viewing its Amazon.com entry.

Power pop with aspirations of art rock relevance, The Charlatans can't seem to decide who they are on their latest release. Are they about the songs? Or the attitude? Both? Neither? Listening to "Simpatico" gives one the feeling that the recording sessions must have been a rather confusing time and place to be.

The music, anyway, has an air of unrealized expectations about it. At times, the Charlatans UK come close to achieving an artistic unity a la late '70s Kinks. Thick, plush arrangements, swirling rhythms, layered harmonies on vocals – it all starts adding up to something special. For whatever reason, though, the album never quite gets over the hump into the realm of magic. It's frustrating in that all the ingredients seem to be present.

The band just can't seem to get those ingredients organized.

Review by Jim Trageser. Jim is a writer and editor living in Escondido, Calif., and was a contributor to the "Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD" (1993) and "The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Blues" (2005).



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