The Lightning Seeds - Tilt (Epic) 'Been there, done that' would probably be an apt motto for Ian Broudie, the main man behind the Lightning Seeds.
From the depths of obscurity in the underground Liverpudlian punk scene he scaled the pinnacle of Brit-pop during its heyday, and must have thought he had witnessed everything pop had to offer.
Until he decided to try his hand at electronic music, that is.
Tilt sees the man famous for breezy guitar-pop trading in his strumming skills for loops, beats and swirling synthesisers. The result is something not unlike a second-rate Pet Shop Boys record: bombastic anthems like Life's Too Short; quirky lines like 'A joke is not a joke/it's serious stuff until it's laughed at' on If Only; even half-hearted hip-hop 'experiments' as Broudie plays around with an Al Green sample and sings about Marvin Gaye on Sweetest Soul Sensation.
The melodies are intact, the production is flawless, and the odd mood change is thrown in for good measure.
Tilt should have made another perfect pop record in the Seeds' canon, adding to the masterpieces Jollification and Dizzy Heights.
