The debut album from these young major label signings offers keyboard-driven power pop that delves back in time to incorporate vibes from the Beatles and Small Faces. When it works it's great, especially on "Weird Superman" which swaggers along with a great hook. "United States Of Amnesia" soars high with clever lyrical play, while "We Don't Belong" closes the record with incredible energy. Straw offer refreshingly coy yet largely unpretentious songs that come over particularly well after they've been seen live, yet the quartet sometimes try to be doing too much at times. The sickeningly jaunty "Aeroplane Song" is something you'd expect from latterday Space and there's too much similar gimmickry elsewhere. Tim Perry |