Since discovering the joys of the Concretes' self-titled lp last year, I've had Boyoubetterunow on the 'to buy' list without holding out much hope of ever getting my hands on it, but, much to my surprise, Collector's Corner came through with the goods (as it so often does) yesterday. I'd actually been looking for a Ronettes best-of, which is kind of appropriate - the latter-day Swedish outfit are steeped in that kind of delicious girl group pop ("Other Ones" even starts with the "Be My Baby" drum fill, though of course without coming anywhere near the Jesus and Mary Chain's appropriation of it on "Just Like Honey").
Boyoubetterunow is a repackaging of the Concretes' first two eps, and while it doesn't have the swagger and glitter of The Concretes, a lot of the elements are there (the quirky tunefulness, the voice, the punctuating horns, the keyboards that sound like organs, and so on), and these early songs possess a pleasing modesty in their own right. They're devoted to melody, which always helps, but the band's sunnier impulses are intersheaved with darker, more downbeat elements - a neat concoction.
