The High Five

THE SPIRIT of honesty and well meaning that the High Five reverberate with doesn't in any way compensate for a record fails to excite, provoke, communicate or even make me laugh.

The best thing here is the sleeve – a 'contemporary youth' standing on a plinth and staring with statue-esque sullenness over the High Five's native city of Liverpool – the songs, one might hope, would aim for a similar hard peering at the world we live in but... not so.

I doubt that the High Five really lack a sense of purpose there is no evidence of it here. They seem to take half an hour to say very little and make recording an LP sound like a dull rather than an adventure or a challenge. Lyrically they a overblown to the point of making their sentiments opaque – musically they're the opposite, veiling virtually everything in lukewarm rhythm guitar dabs and generally uninspired playing.

Only briefly, very briefly, with 'If They Come In The Morning' by virtue of the shedding of the irksome noises for a sparse and keyboard arrangement around the vocal, do they begin stoke up any notably individualistic fires and make you think that they might be worth lending an ear to.

Otherwise there is nothing either demanding attention gently caressing you in. This LP lacks any reason for exist all – save for being part of the routine that bands observe a they've released a couple of singles. There was once a radio DJ who's nauseating catchphrase was "keep your feet on the ground and reach for the stars". Perhaps in the High Five's case he was talking sense.