NME SINGLES REVIEW

SINGLE OF THE WEEK

EMBRACE - All You Good Good People

Pasty-faced, long-haired white boys in scruffy shirts. Simple, solid anthemic rock music with a nice three-chord singalong tune and vaguely 'uplifting' sentiments about the way that you feel and being really real and clubbing a baby seal*. So why isn't this like listening to paint dry? Well, because Embrace manage what only rock bands touched by true greatness can do (cf. The Roses, The Verve, Oasis). See 'All You Good Good People' has a way of making you feel ten feet tall and looking down on creation, without overblowing the bubble with hollow bombast.

The tale of '...Good People' is one of self-regeneration after the death of a relationship, told by a voice floating somewhere between Richard Ashcroft and Noel (not Liam) Gallagher, but with an understated emotional resonance that quietly knows it speaks the truth. The horns that regally decorate it all can only add to the sense of a fanfare for future kings. Which might seem a premature thing to say at this point, but simply the fact that they've released a song as classic as this for their debut single suggests Embrace know even better than us where their destiny lies."

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