Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak

GOOD SHOES
Think Before You Speak
Brille Records

Post-Libertines Britain is awash with bands telling tales of modern life to the soundtrack of jangly guitars, with Good Shoes being the latest group to do exactly that on their debut album, Think Before You Speak.

While it might be seen as lazy to compare a contemporary British band to Arctic Monkeys, there is a biting wit to their lyrics, which make a decent effort of telling the kind of tales that the Sheffield lads purvey so well, most obviously on Morden, which has a dig at their home town. Elsewhere things have a kind of Art Brut charm, especially standout track Sophia, which tells of a typically crap night out for an underage drinker. Musically the tunes are angular, landing them near the likes of Maximo Park or maybe even The Buzzcocks

Although it is a pretty good, catchy listen, Think Before You Speak is really just another album in a genre which is already at bursting point. While this may seem like a criticism of Good Shoes, it is actually more an indication of just how strong the music scene is in the UK right now. In England a few years back, when overseas acts like Limp Bizkit were considered the height of musical talent, this album would have made a massive splash, whereas in 2007 there are just so many bands doing this kind of thing to such a high standard that Good Shoes may struggle to cause much more than a ripple.