The Courteeners - Falcon (Polydor) Released 22/02/10

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When The Courteeners first emerged in late 2007/early 2008, the temptation to draw parallels with Oasis was difficult to resist. They were both from Manchester, and both fronted by a swaggering, cocksure lad named Liam who sang in a thick Manc accent. Oh, and they both came wielding tunes that threatened to live up to a promise of becoming the biggest band in Britain. Such was the impact of The Courteeners’ early material, they had the temerity to exclude arguably their best song, Acrylic, from their debut album, a ruse which saw fans paying upwards of 15 quid for the ‘deluxe’ edition just to get their hands on that single. You might think, then, that second album Falcon has been hotly anticipated.

Well….not really. Firstly, after their early rise culminated in a marquee-bursting appearance on the John Peel stage at Glastonbury 2008, they more or less disappeared for 18 months, during which time UK indie music seemed to blossom, then bloom with creativity. Then, when they reappeared in early 2010 with the first single from the upcoming second album, You Overdid It Doll sounded like a desperate and ultimately failed attempt to reference the current burgeoning indie dance/electro scene. Never mind, we thought; nothing wrong with the odd experiment, now lets get on with the electric guitar anthems that must be on the rest of the record.

Except there aren’t any. Lazily titled ‘The Opener’ has a wet rag of an acoustic guitar impostoring where the electric guitars should be, and as a result, its potential classic Courteeners hook (I miss the city I love/but I’ve been having an affair/with LA and New York/Dundee and Doncaster) fizzles out into a damp squib of a synth jingle. On Take Over The World, Liam Fray showcases a monumental lack of ironic awareness with the lyric, I’ve never written a cliché before/and I’ll probably never do so, oblivious to the fact that the rest of the album is one big bucket of cliché. Cross My Heart And Hope To Fly is bland, and so it is with horror that you arrive at track four and realise that the aforementioned You Overdid It Doll might be the best song on here.

In fact, it’s not until The Rest Of The World Has Gone Home, at number seven, that you find a Courteeners sound you’ll recognise, and even then, it feels like a pastiche of their former selves. Sycophant holds a glimmer of hope for a return to form, but on St. Jude this would have been a competent filler, rather than a standout track. Cameo Brooch is a passable rock ballad, but the fact it’s a rock ballad at all suggests that unfortunately, the Oasis parallels might extend to woefully disappointing post-debut output. The last three tracks contain a few scraps to feed off, but by then, you’re past caring.

A wise person once said that you have your whole life to write your debut album, which is why the first is so often the best. The Courteeners might have felt the record company pressure of having 18 months to come up with material to match the heights of St. Jude, and may have benefited from an extra year or so writing time. Whether they’ll get that chance again after this, though, must be in some doubt.