Johnny Foreigner - Criminals
They still make complex punky thrills seem so effortless, they still make you feel so old.
Johnny Foreigner are one of those gigging bands, the ones stuck on a permanent tour taking in the Brudenell Social in Leeds, the York Fibber, and all the varying versions of Barflys and Academies. The Travel Inns and the long van journeys and the load/reload/unload. Somehow, through all this monotony, JoFo have returned barely a year after 'Waited Up 'Til It Was Light', all spangly and different.
Or not. They're still three kids who got left behind in Birmingham, drinking gin and smoking down back alleys, thrashing guitars to pass the time. They still make complex punky thrills seem so effortless, they still make you feel so old. Progress is hard to ascertain - this could fit in anywhere on 'Waited Up...' and not stick out. 'Criminals' has those fiddly guitar parts, the hammered out fuzz, and the overlapping vocals that characterised their debut, and made it so brilliant and exhilarating.
Much like Vivian Girls, or Times New Viking, the question is posed - do we want them to evolve, when they came out so fully formed? 'Criminals' tells us the answer is... no. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with the formula.
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