Graham Coxon - Love Travels At Illegal Speeds

Sound the alarms and clear the ‘decks’. Make sure all those shortlists for next year’s Best Solo Artists are kept free; Coxon’s got a new album out, and by jove, he’s only gone and topped the lot.

When compared to previous album ‘Happiness In Magazines’, that’s no mean feat. Where ‘Freakin’ Out’ was previously a career xenith, there’s a whole rabid gang of rock heavy indie punk anthems straining at the leash. Something which at one point seemed like a particularly public brand of rehab now appears a cohesive band, even if Graham plays the majority of instruments on record. More than a match for his peers, or the countless legions of bands he’s influenced, it’s safe to say the awkwardly unwilling Godfather of Britpop is at the top of his game.

Not that we’re getting anything like a return to 1995. In 2006 Coxon is punk, and we don’t mean the kids in their Green Day hoodies playing with the trollies down the local Tesco. Seventies styled, but as clever as they are dumb, there’s more rock action than most could handle on ‘I Can’t Look At Your Skin’. The fact that it’s coupled with the catchiest hook line you’ll ever hear is part of the genius. It’s been said a million times, but there’s no need for Albarn to write the tunes anymore. The guitarist is just as good.

From the paranoid stylings of ‘Don’t Let Your Man Know’ to the balls out simplicity of ‘Gimmie Some Love’, there’s more than enough uptempo chart busters to keep the units shifting, but that doesn’t mean it’s all turned up to eleven. ‘You & I’ has the same jangling-pop-with-an-organ vibe as ‘Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery’, while ‘Flights To The Sea (Lovely Rain)’ does alt-country better than a beardy-weirdy Ryan Adams’ drug habit ever could.

To say there’s not a weak track on ‘Love Travels At Illegal Speeds’ would be an understatement. The mind-burrowing chorus of ‘What’s He Got’, the piercing Hammond on a sugar rush overtones of ‘You Will Always Let Me Down’ and the stuttering intro of ‘Standing On My Own Again’ all mark high points, but when you expect a low, Coxon just keeps soaring higher.

An obvious album of the year contender, and up there with ‘Modern Life Is Rubbish’ as the best work he’s ever done. Graham Coxon is getting scarily good at this solo lark. If it’s schizoid retro punk rock you’re after, there’s nobody doing it better, and while he might not have the hype, he bloody well should. Absolutely essential.