Ocean Colour Scene: Moseley Shoals

Moseley Shoals

Best song: Policemen & Pirates

Worst song: You’ve Got It Bad

Overall grade: 5

Ocean Colour Scene were an English band that began in the nineties, and they were too late for Madchester and too rocky for Britpop, which, if you take this album as your focus point, is more than a little unfair. I mean, the group weren’t necessarily full of new musical ideas, but how many new musical ideas WERE there in 1996? Anyway, what these four guys lacked in originality, they made up for in diversity, because there’s a whole range of different influences on this album.  Yes, you have the obvious Beatles and Stones, but there’s also some more unexpected bands you can hear echoes of, like Television and the 3-minute single side of psychedelia. And despite the fact that most of the songs follow a predictable quiet verse/loud chorus pattern, the odd instrumental section makes it quirky and adds something refreshingly different.

Most people who are familiar with this album know it for its singles, of which there are four. The most notable are ‘The Riverboat Song’ and ‘The Day We Caught The Train’. If Ocean Colour Scene are a pop-rock band, then the first one is definitely the rock and the first one the pop, and both are great, although of the studio versions I slightly prefer ‘Riverboat Song’. ‘The Day We Caught The Train’ was clearly written to be performed live, but luckily some of the magic manages to carry through into this studio version. It’s all about the chorus – the verses basically just exist in anticipation of the big moment – but it is a glorious chorus; one that’s sure to make you feel good about pretty much everything.

‘The Circle’ was another, and though it was possibly a less obvious choice of single (owing to its fairly long instrumental ending which happens to be the best part) on the album it continues the trend of being really good. The electric guitars stand out, bright and tangy (yes, that’s the word I meant to use: they remind me of the musical equivalent of a citrus fruit, surprisingly but not unpleasantly strong). But the final single, ‘You’ve Got It Bad’, is equal parts boring and dull, probably the only faster song where the band’s knack for catchiness doesn’t see them through.

For similar reasons, I would also consider skipping ‘Lining Your Pockets’, since the melody really doesn’t grab me and the band have no energy in the quiet, ballady parts.

The obvious choice would be to put one of the two opening tracks as best song, but truthfully a lot of the later album cuts are crazily underrated. Let’s start with ‘Fleeting Mind’, a far superior ballad to ‘Pockets’, and the start of the more serious middle section of the record. The backing music is interesting in its own right here, not just acting as a backdrop for the vocals as it does in some places. The best part is where Simon sings ‘That’s not hard to forget…’, a line that tugs at the heartstrings and possibly also the vocal chords.

‘One For The Road’ is actually a really sad story, with a strong message about being careful while drinking and partying, but it never gets preachy, mostly down to the swinging ‘get up and dance; get up and smile’ chorus that lets go a bit more than the slightly over the top melancholy of the first couple of lines. ‘It’s My Shadow’ is another one that mixes prettieness and direct emotion with its building chorus and anthemic hook, to great effect. But even these don’t come close to the unquestionable highlight that is ‘Policemen & Pirates’. Nobody from OCS has ever been referred to as a lyrical genius, but the curious, metaphorical lyrics here always make me stop and think: ‘The house caught on fire in the winter/The bosses lay slain/And each of the workers decided to tenfold their pay’. Musically, it expertly fuses rock and soul and juxtapositions a smooth vocal melody with jumpy intermittent percussion and has a really cool guitar riff at the beginning.

At almost eight minutes long, it’ll come as no surprise that the prog influence is felt most on the closer ‘Get Back’. It makes for an outstanding finish – a mostly instrumental piece with a very involved performance from everyone. They took a risk putting this on their album, both stylistically and with their fanbase, but it was definitely worth it – stretching their abilities and incorporating a wider range of instruments while remaining accessible.

This isn’t your typical mainstream pop rock album, but it isn’t alt rock either, and perhaps their lack of identification with any scene or label is why OCS were never crazily successful, despite their ties with Blur. It could also be to do with the fact that they peaked with this album and then moved into a more dad rock style, always staying listenable but nowhere near as engaging. Still, labels are unnecessary – anyone with an ear for melody who doesn’t need things to be too complicated is sure to find something to enjoy on this album.