In It for the Money
In many ways Supergrass are the Britpop superstars who best embody the youthfulness and positivity supporters generally claim for the movement. Their 1995 debut album,I Should Coco, offered "Alright," as purely feel-good an anthem as evenNoel Gallagherhad written. Two years later Supergrass are still in their 20s but eager to let us know they've grown. Their follow-up toCoco,In It for the Money, does contain "Tonight," an unambiguous anthem to partying. At the same time, while they haven't transformed themselves into an earnest outfit like the laterManic Street Preachers,Money's more measured approach is accompanied by a heightened sense of drama, if not a newfound gravity. Small helpings of horns and keyboards aid in communicating a finesse, even on a raver like "Richard III," that the earlier record barely acknowledged. While the acoustic-guitar-based "Late in the Day" is burdened by lines about "searching my mind," their larger passions are successfully communicated on "Sun Hits the Sky"--which, tellingly, is more rocking. This is, after all, Supergrass, whose sense of self-deprecating humor is still in force onIn It for the Money: in the CD booklet, a potted plant is depicted as their fourth member.--Rickey Wright