Prior to the recording of ‘Definitely Maybe’, Liam was a good singer. Not a great one. He was reaching for his idol, Ian Brown. Twenty-six years on, Chesterfield’s The Crooks, have, to date, lent their songwriting to the escapist melancholy of Noel Gallagher. At the end of 2019, they released ‘Nevermind’ (full review here) and, ‘She Walks Alone’ (full review here) at the start of 2020. Both singles began to manoeuvre Noel’s songwriting alongside their own.
On ‘In Time’, they have settled into that groove again. Crucially, their sound is the predominant one. Out of the colossal Burnage shadow, they stride. The guitar playing is beginning to shudder souls like Steve Craddock on ‘Get Blown Away’ and reach beyond the early dynamism of Noel.
In this time of lock-down, who among us can say, we haven’t stared out of the window and dreamed? Dreamed of partners in different cities, festivals, parents, lonely grandparents isolated and lonely? It’s a shit time for the soul. Step forward the lyrics:
“Cherish these days before its too late / If you could turn the hand yourself / Would you hold on to your world? / Would you change what you have done?”
To be able to pang those heartstrings in a moment of reflection and, fire out a global clarion call for change is a gift. The sense that, everything we hold dear is worth fighting for, during Covid19 is life-affirming. To so boldly, decree messages of radical change is life-changing.
Whenever this ends, get yourself to the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds for This Feeling’s Re-Wired.
