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The intriguingly titled third hit single in 1996 from the quartet of Adam Devlin, Mark and Scott Morriss and Eds Chesters. The Bluetones' debut album Expecting To Fly reached Number One and earned producer Hugh Jones a BRIT Award nomination as Best British Producer.Again, the notes are oddly reluctant to mention the band's own nomination (for Best British Newcomer) and eny fule kno that Marblehead Johnson is a reference to the late comedian Bill Hicks, who used that name for his musical projects. It is true that it has nothing to do with the lyrical content of the song, though, and at least all the band members' names are spelt correctly.
The scale of the Bluetones' success is sometimes forgotten, possibly because they were never quite the biggest band in their field. Still, there was an impressive run of success early in their career with the chart-topping debut album and three hits from it; and not long after this standalone hit. Perhaps the silly video and ingratiating appearance of the band distract from the top-notch musicianship on board and the outstanding voice of Mark Morriss, but I loved the witty lyrics which add that slight touch of sourness to stop this sounding too much like a cozy pastiche. Unfortunately, nobody seems to remember they did anything other than 'Slight Return' nowadays and after a long spell as the last of the big Britpop acts in continuous operation, they finally called it a day late last year.
Buy A Rough Outline: The Singles & B-Sides 1995-2003
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