Ocean Colour Scene

To be perfectly honest, it comes as a bit of a shock that Ocean Colour Scene are still releasing albums at all. Somehow in the 15 years since the band first got together, they’ve hit the heights of popularity in the UK in the mid-’90s, then slipped to a point only their loyal fan base gives a damn about this, their seventh album. And therein lies the problem with A Hyperactive Workout for the Flying Squad — it sounds just like everything else the band have recorded since their glory days. While that might make fans happy, there isn’t really anything here that is going to attract the casual listener. That might sound a little harsh because the band’s updated take on the classic rock formula perfected by Traffic and the Small Faces isn’t unpleasant to listen to, it just feels so very uninspired and, at times, bland. That’s why the better songs, such as the very catchy "Free My Name,” stand out head and shoulders above what can quite easily be called just another Ocean Colour Scene album.