Supergrass - In It For The Money (1997)

I feel like Supergrass is screaming at me in the title track. It's a decent song, just a bit overbearing, lots of backing noise. The songs continue to be noisy, but after a few songs I kinda get over it. Supergrass is a high-energy late 90s alternative rock band, and they play largely power-chord filled rockers with the occasional horn part or eclectic drum break. I am sorta reminded of Screaming Trees, but more juvenile and not quite as creative with mixing up their sound. Maybe if you crossed Screaming Trees with Oasis you'd get something approaching Supergrass.

In It For The Money is the odd album that gets stronger as you get deeper into its runtime. "It's Not Me" is a lovely haunting acoustic piece accentuated by a spacey synthesizer. "Hollow Little Rain" is a smoky bluesey piano song. Turns out I was wrong about Supergrass not being creative with their sound, it just took until the albums "second side" for it to happen. I wish the album hadn't closed on "Sometimes I Make You Sad", because it's probably the worst song on the album even if it might be the most creative. It sounds like someone in the band is beatboxing the sound of the bass drum. That would have been neat or funny for a short gag, but for a nearly 3-minute song it gets annoying really fast.

The album was released in 2 forms, the standard edition 1-CD version and the "limited edition" 2-CD version. I went back and forth a bit if I should include the "limited edition bonus CD" in my review but ultimately decided against it. If Supergrass or their producers really wanted the "limited edition" to count as the official album they wouldn't have released a shorter version at the same time. More than that the "bonus CD" included in the limited edition is only about 28 extra minutes of music. They could have fit all those tracks on 1 CD, but then they couldn't have justified selling it as a double. Besides, the 1-CD version is the perfect album length at just around 40 minutes, and I just don't feel like listening to more Supergrass right now.

But what I heard I pretty much liked. 3 stars.