Elastica – Elastica

This was one of the few records I bought on the strength of one track heard on the radio (“Allnighter”), and I was slightly disappointed. But listening to it again, a lot of it is really good, especially the faster songs like “Annie”, “Smile” and the aforementioned “Allnighter”. The critics talked about a new wave of British punk but were wrong – this was more Britpop with a punky twist (even if you discount the Frischmann-Albarn connection, “Car Song” could easily be a Blur song, a companion to “London Loves”). It’s still an enjoyable game spotting the punk influences – the Wire and Stranglers ones are notorious, but the most striking one for me was the perfect counterfeiting of Pete Shelley’s nasal guitar sound on “Allnighter.