Review: The Charlatans U.K. frontman is an unexpected survivor of the U.K.'s 1990's "Madchester" scene. In 1989, as a 21-year-old growing up outside of Manchester, his credentials as rock frontman were a big record collection, poster boy good looks and a rather engaging personal style. He auditioned for both Echo and the Bunnymen and the Inspiral Carpets (a job also applied for by Noel Gallagher, who ended up becoming their roadie) before joining the Charlatans U.K., a band with a fresh Hammond-based sound but otherwise neither as revolutionary nor as bruisingly powerful as contemporaries the Stone Roses or Happy Mondays. After the world-conquering success of the breakthrough anthem "The Only One I Know," the band's second album sold substantially less than the first, and the third was all but ignored by a scene-hungry press whose attention had moved halfway around the world from Manchester to Seattle, but a knack for reinvention and the staunch determination of his bandmates to grow musically and distance themselves from the Britpop zeitgeist kept the band vital. Burgess broadened his scope and garnered considerable kudos after recording an inspired vocal track for "Life Is Sweet" with the Chemical Brothers in 1995. This signaled an upswing in Burgess' and the Charlatan U.K.'s fortunes; his band's eponymous fourth album debuted in the U.K. charts at No.1. returning the band to the forefront of British rock bands -- finding the band at both an artistic and critical peak. Marking 15 years with the Charlatans U.K. in April 2005, Burgess continues to thrive, releasing his first solo album I Believe, a scattergun collection the singer describes as: "songs of joy and travel with influences from all of my favorite artists, rolled into my own style." Living in Los Angeles since 1999while the rest of the Charlatans U.K. remain in Britain--Burgess still maintains close relations with the band, who still turn out very credible albums that pay abeyance to the classic rock template, while incorporating the trendier bits of dance culture and some of the winsomeness of early Britpop. They are currently at work on their follow up to 2004's Up At The Lake.
