It may seem a little unfair to review a band solely on the artwork of their album cover. But in the case of Denyer it is possible.

Modern Life is Rubbish:

The front cover features a group of astronauts standing in a field, planting a union flag into the soil while on the back, the four band members sit around a tree stump, sipping at china cups. It's all very, very Britpop. It's all very 1994.

If you own any of Blur's earlier albums, have more than a passing familiarity with The Kinks or have heard anything by The Smiths, there may not be any need to hear Denyer.

London Loves:

"Directions" is a case in point. Simon Denyer's snarling mockey accent is so spot on that,

instead of adopting the lead singer's moniker, the band should have called themselves Albarn. Later, the chorus finds our Hereford based cockney morphing into Johnny Rotten as he sings "Am I alive?".

"My Revenge", meanwhile, finds its chorus lifted out of the Kinks' "Well Respected Man", and is then followed by Simon Denyer putting on his NHS specs and hearing aid to do his best Morrisey impersonation in "Normality".

Repetition:

Derivativity is the watchword for Denyer. Even the songs that, on the face of it, display a certain amount of imagination, feature something that is familiar.

The title and theme of "So Plastic" may well be borrowed from the Kinks song "Plastic Man" and "We Don't Need Anymore Heroes" suggests a less cogent reply to "No More Heroes" by The Stranglers.

It Could Be You, You Charmless Men:

Lyrics deal with common Brit-pop indie subjects: a cheeky disrespect for elders and alleged betters ("Normality can cause banality....if you don't find a way to break from the pace set by the authorities"), a feeling of confusion ("I don't know where I'm going but I'm bound to get there soon") and a glorious, if slightly naive can-do attitude to life ("We don't need anyone else but ourselves").

The derivative nature of the band's output is not particularly bad in itself - the number of local bands mimicking the style of other more famous bands far outweighs the number of truly original sounding acts, as is to be expected.

Trouble in the Message Centre:

Denyer do have a good range of tunes and lyrics - although if someone could explain the lyric "Down, down, down like a bitch metal cow" to me, I would be most grateful.

Where Denyer struggle is in finding a definitive style. At the moment, they are Blur one minute and the Smiths the next. What they need to become is Denyer one minute and Denyer the next (with the occasional Blur and Smiths reference when required).

The band are a great tribute act to mid nineties Brit-Poppery - now they need to work on the detail of their own sound.

05/04/04 - First published on www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire on this link