My Life Story - PORTSMOUTH WEDGEWOOD ROOMS
Jake Shillingford has a dream. He covets a Parental Advisory sticker. In an attempt to obtain one he's written a song containing over 15 variations of the word fuck. It simply proves what your parents always said - swearing really isn't big or clever.
Dropped by Parlophone, MLS were saved from oblivion by Andrew Lloyd-Webber's It Records. Why remains unclear. Because even on their older songs, the use of any instrument available only temporarily hides the paucity of imagination lurking in their soul.
'Stutter' and the rest might plausibly be called orchestral pop, but really aren't fit to dry-clean one of Neil Hannon's little suits. Next to their new material, though, it seems like a work of peerless genius. Now they want to rock, attempting to ape anyone from Oasis to Kula Shaker and resulting in a sound so crushingly unsexy it could be used to treat Viagra overdoses.
It gets worse - 'Walk/Don't Walk' is a truly hideous abomination that tries to merge soul, reggae and baggy, while new single 'It's A Girl Thing' is a clod-hopping account of being dumped. Although sadly not by their new record company. Until that day comes and MLS are terminally put out of their misery, Andrew Lloyd-Webber, we salute you. The greatest sadist of our time. - Jim Alexander
NME, 05/06/99