Expecting To Fly - The Bluetones

THE BLUETONES The Bluetones hail from Hounslow and released this album at the peak of the Britpop phenomenon back in 1995. They consist of Mark Morriss on vocals, Scott Morriss on electric guitar and vocals, Adam Devlin on six and twelve string guitar and Eds Chesters on Drums and Percussion. All the songs are written by them. EXPECTING TO FLY The album a proficient collection of guitar-based tunes, which manages to be both varied, yet flows so well you hardly notice it change from one track to the next, giving the feeling of one piece of 53 minute and 45 second music, rather than lots of little songs. It's infused ...  Read the complete review

Unique is a word that's cast about all too liberally these days. Somebody does something slightly out of the ordinary, and it becomes 'unique'. Thankfully, there's enough of us around with our head screwed on to cynically dismiss this vague concept of greatness, and look for the real meat to these falsely titled items. For something to be unique, it must have a fair proportion of difference to everything else out there. It's a term that's hard to attach to something, in the same way that 'classic' shouldn't be thrown about too much either. For these precise reasons, I'm not going to label the Bluetones as unique. Although ...  Read the complete review

When they appeared on the scene they were dubbed the Bluetone Roses. High praise indeed but it was really asking for too much as the Bluetones are really quite a limited band. The promise shown by the early singles has simply not materialised. 'Are You Blue Or Are You Blind', 'Slight Return' and 'Bluetonic' were a trio of fantastic singles that proved that jangle pop was alive and well. If everything on the album was half as good then 'Expecting To Fly' would be a winner. As it is there are more lumpen stodgy tracks than bristling shiny ones. 'Talking to Clary' for example is just pointless drivel that should never have ...  Read the complete review

Ah Britpop, you were responsible for so much! Shed Seven, Sleeper and various others. Luckily in amongst the dross you managed to create a few decent bands – The Bluetones are one of these bands. Shooting into the spotlight with the fabulous, and completely unrelated to Hendrix, Slight Return the Bluetones straight away became one of my favourite bands of that time, even their B-Sides were great! As is this album, it mainly consists of guitar pop style songs, though erase any “Boyzone with a guitarist” ideas from your head – you’re way off. Every track on the album is great, which made their following album, Return to the Last Chance saloon ...  Read the complete review

I first heard the Bluetones sound when they brought out 'Solomon bites the worm' and found it to be a brilliant track. I then proceeded to purchase 'Return to the last chance saloon' and found that album to be truly fantastic. However when i bought their debut album a week later i was kicked into touch. 'Expecting to fly' is one of the most original and awe inspiring albums to come out of the 'brit-pop' era, there isnt a bad song on it. 'Talking to Clarry' is a excellent indication of what is to come on the album, a lot of passion, well produced songs and inspired lyrics. 'Bluetonic', 'Cut some rug' and ...  Read the complete review