FEATURE:
The Oxford Comma: Seen the Light
Supergrass' Life on Other Planets at Twenty
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I wonder whether…
IN THIS PHOTO: Supergrass in 2019
Supergrass’ fourth studio album, Life on Other Planets, is seen as one of their best by fans. In terms of reviews, it seemed to fare better than 1999’s Supergrass. The Oxford band’s first two albums, I Should Coco and In it for the Money were released in 1995 and 1997 respectively. The first album that includes Rob Coombes as an official member of the band, there was a slight sense of revival and return on Life on Other Planets. I think many critics expected Supergrass’ eponymous album to be similar to their first two albums. More mature and slightly less urgent, there are a few filler tracks on the album. Though not exactly the same as their first two albums, Life on Other Planets does contain a lot of the rawness, fun and anthems that some felt went missing in 1999. On 30th September, Supergrass’ fourth studio album turns twenty. Reaching number nine in the U.K. and spawning one of their most popular songs in the form of Grace, I wanted to look ahead to the twentieth anniversary of an album that I really love. It is surprising that not a lot has been written about the 2002 album. So many revere I Should Coco and In it for the Money, but Life on Other Planets didn’t get huge praise from everyone. Perhaps there was a feeling that they needed to fully return to their roots. But having grown as a band, that was not a wise move. They could not recreate the past.
Despite the fact there are a couple of tracks that are a bit half-formed or do not really hit home (Prophet 15 and Run ends the album on a slightly damp note), there is more than enough to love! From the wonderful opener of Za to the thrill of Rush Hour Soul and the catchiness of Grace, Life on Other Planets was Supergrass showing they were one of the best bands of their generation – even though some doubted them when they put out their eponymous album in 1999. I want to round off with a couple of reviews for the album. Pitchfork had this to say about the magnificent Life on Other Planets:
“Supergrass have always offered a pretty fresh take on the grand traditions of UK rock (big guitars, big melodies, sly humor, caricatured self-confidence), from their early days as three-chord ruffians, to their brilliant sophomore effort In It for the Money, to the Stonesy swagger of their self-titled third album. Their fourth, Life on Other Planets, is a 40-minute tour of 70s British rock, but more to the point, it's a summary of Supergrass' own career, merging all of the band's many mutations into one decisive sound, for better or worse. On the one hand, there's an abundance of energy and some great songwriting; on the other, there's less focus here than on either of their previous two releases.
This is clear from the outset, when the disc opens with a brief BBC-ish synth intro (could have fallen out of the back pocket of Rick Wakeman's flared, embroidered hip huggers, for all I know), before launching into the flashy, piano-pinned strut of "Za", a traditional Supergrass rocker stuffed with big, crashing Mick Ronson riffage, but backed by strange, wordless vocals. From there, we smash headfirst into "Rush Hour Soul", an unpredicted blast of musclebound guitar and thunderfingered bass with heavy eyeliner and a sequined jean jacket, before being faced with "Seen the Light", which features a questionable Elvis impression on the hapless line, "I'm a rock 'n' roll singer in a rock 'n' roll band," compensated for with a great melody.
So far, we've got a handful of strong showings from the shag-headed Londoners, and no actual cohesion. Then again, stability can only count for so much when tracks like the full-throttle murder melodrama of "Brecon Beacons" and the Moog-slathered "Grace", with a melody sticker than a sun-melted Baby Ruth, come bursting from the fray. Ahh, if only the whole album were that consistent. The thing is, their 100%-of-everything approach has its drawbacks, and nowhere is this more clearly evident than on "Evening of the Day", which-- though it nails a perfect balance between Small Faces-style Brit-rock and straight-up B.B. King blues-- isn't all that engaging, content to devolve into a kind of aimless music hall thing that sounds like it was recorded several beers after tipsy”.
I do think that Life on Other Planets should be better known and played. It is one of Supergrass’ best albums, and it should be revisited as it is twenty very soon. I do not know if the band are releasing an anniversary edition or not. In a more positive review, AllMusic wrote the following:
“Supergrass makes music so effervescent and so effortlessly joyous that it's easy to take them and their skills for granted. Surely that was the case around the release of their third album, 1999's eponymous effort, which in its labored fun and weary ballads illustrated just how much hard work it was to craft records as brilliant as I Should Coco and In It for the Money. It suggested the group might have burned too bright and flamed out, but, happily, 2002's Life on Other Planets is a smashing return to form, an album giddy with the sheer pleasure of making music. What makes this all the more impressive is that this is the record that Supergrass attempted to be -- a perfect balance of the sensibility and humor of I Should Coco with the musicality and casual virtuosity of In It for the Money. Where that album felt labored and a little weary, Life on Other Planets is teeming with life. The tempos are sprightly, the hooks tumble out of the speakers, the band mixes up styles and eras, and they never, ever forget the jokes (Gaz's fleeting Elvis impression on "Seen the Light," an allusion to Spinal Tap's "All the Way Home," or the chorus of "Evening of the Day").
Sure, it's possible to spot the influence all the way through the album -- most clearly T. Rex on "Seen the Light" and "Brecon Beacons," where Gaz's warble is uncannily like Marc Bolan's -- but it never sounds exactly like their inspirations -- it all sounds like Supergrass. And Supergrass hasn't offered such pure, unabashed pop pleasure since their debut; there hasn't been an album that's this much fun in a long time. Since they've been away for a while and have never broken in the States, Supergrass has been curiously overlooked, even though they're better than 99 percent of the power pop and punk-pop bands out there (plus, their everything-old-is-new-again aesthetic can be heard in such albums as the Strokes' Is This It?). But, as this glorious record proves, there are few bands around these days who are as flat-out enjoyable as this trio. The world is a better place for having Supergrass in it”.
On 30th September, Life on Other Planets turns twenty. It seems hard to believe! I was at university when the album came out. I had been following Supergrass since their 1995 debut, and I was not disappointed by what I heard in 2002. I play the album now. It still sounds fresh to me. I do not love every song on it, but Life on Other Planets has more than enough to keep you hooked and coming back. Now that Supergrass are reformed and touring together, fans get the chance to see Gaz Coombes, Mick Quinn, Rob Coombes and Danny Goffey perform tracks from the album in the flesh. That must be exciting! For those critics who were a bit mixed towards Life on Other Planets in 2002, I hope now that they have finally…
SEEN the light.