Reviews:

"Taxloss"

The weakest track off Mansun's quite astoundingly good debut LP, "Taxloss" works better out of that record's sweeping context and as a standalone single. Squeezing some wonderfully evocative guitar noises from their instruments, the boys trot out a psychedelic-tinged track about...er...not really sure, actually. Quite what "mud rock junk pop chart hop mop top swap shop" is supposed to mean beats me. Perhaps Mansun just opened their big dictionary of one-syllable words at random and wrote down what they saw. Nevertheless, this is a heady and intoxicating song that oozes out of your speakers like liquid gold.

The first CD (featuring an extended version of "Taxloss"), has "Grey Lantern" as the first b-side, and is a weird lo-fi shambler: an attack from this wouldn't be that effective (although it does have some fab Joe 90-style guitars. Last on this platter is the Lisa Marie Experience remix of "Taxloss": a marvellous echoing seventies groovathon that takes the track to the disco and feeds it cheap champagne.

The second CD (featuring the radio edit of "Taxloss"), opens the b-sides with "The Impending Collapse Of It All", a cacophony of guitars and muddled vocals cooked together to form a compelling and driving song. A live version of "Ski Jump Nose" (which opens with the same Bond theme-like instrumental featured on the LP, before exploding into a fast-paced punky number) and a shimmering acoustic "Wide Open Space" close the CD.

Mansun, so long runts of the litter, have blossomed into a wonderfully exciting and innovative band: this year's Manics, at the very least.

Rating: 9/10
--headcleaner online magazine