CD Reviews

The Zutons

Tired of Hanging Around | Epic

By BRIAN E. KING | September 18, 2006

2.5 Stars

The Zutons’ second outing features more straightforward rock than their Talking-Heads-meet-Madness debut, 2004’s Who Killed the Zutons, but where’s the fun in that? Well, there is some. With the twangy ballad “Somebody’s Watching over Me” and swaggering anthems like “Valerie” and “Tired of Hanging Around,” these sons (and one daughter) of Liverpool were assured of being NME darlings for at least a week or two. Singer Dave McCabe’s adopts a delivery that’s uncannily Bono and at times oddly Chris Cornell. But it’s their honest simplicity that offers a refreshing contrast to the irony of neo-new-wave disco retreads that are all the rage in the UK. “Tired of Hanging Around” sounds like a song the Strokes should have written. That’s not enough to make Tired of Hanging Around anything approaching a classic. But it’s evidence that there’s life left in this little band.