Review: Good Shoes - "No Hope, No Future"

London's Good Shoes prove that history does repeat itself.

If one was to examine how aspects of recorded music as we know it came to be, they would certainly come across the history of the LP - the long play release. In the middle of the last century, there was a great shift in recording style. Instead of releasing a few tracks, record companies thought that charging more for longer records could bring in more profit, and the LP was born. However, the quality of the 'additional' songs were low. Essentially, they were filler tracks.

With the recent release of the second Good Shoes album No Hope, No Future, I can't help but wonder if the past has repeated and manifested itself through their record. Please add it to the pile of recent disappointments. It's a very dark work, especially for following their first album Think Before You Speak, which was catchy, fun and really pretty good.

But don't get me wrong, there are a couple of really nice tracks on there. Closing cut City By the Sea is probably the best on the album and arguably the most complex in the whole discography. With its minor chord progressions and glimmer-of-hope lead guitar part, the band did manage to pull it together for the last track. With any luck it is the prequel to a better and brighter third album.