Once more into the breach, dear friends. The continuing saga of
Chelsea has rarely failed to throw up at least a handful of invigorating surprises, and
Faster Cheaper and Better Looking, the band's first studio release since their 1999 reunion, maintains that tradition. Indeed, with three members of the "classic," late-'70s lineup still onboard (Gene October,
James Stevenson, and Chris Bashford, joined by latter-day
Buzzcocks bassist Tony Barber), the band has arguably erased the memory of the chaos that reigned through the '80s and '90s and finally delivered the follow-up to Alternative Hits -- not at all coincidentally the last album to feature the same trio. A dozen songs strong,
Faster Cheaper and Better Looking opens with the one-two punch of "Living in the Urban UK" and "Sod the War," disaffected war cries that prove the
Chelsea pen remains as sharp as it ever was --
Chelsea's greatest asset in the early days was its frontman's ability not simply to identify with his audience, but to actually morph with it, until his very lyrics became the slogans that decorated a million T-shirts. That remains true today, although the rage is also tinted with resignation -- like it says in the closing "If We Knew Then," "when we were 15, we thought we could rule the world. But now you're 50...." That, however, is the album's only acknowledgement of the years that have passed since
Chelsea's youth, and this is wholly the sound of a band in its prime, vital and powerful, melodic and marching -- faster, cheaper and, yeah, if you like, maybe even better looking as well. [The 2007 edition features alternate album art and two bonus tracks.] ~ Dave Thompson