This is a review of "Home Alone" recorded by Instant Species. The review was written by Dave Sugden in 2000.

"All songs written by Instant Species, except track 3 - written by some other guy"

What the inlay is trying to say is that the third track on this CD is a cover of the well known country theme tune "The Littlest Hobo", rocked up and thrown back at you as a cheeky addition to a well produced CD. Who can fail to enjoy reminiscing to such a song - thanks Instant Species for that one.

Recorded earlier on this year, "Home Alone" features two originals too, the title track opening up and "Chartwell", both enjoyable blasts of rock-pop - tuneful, melodic, foot tapping classics. A four piece featuring the vocals of Rick Garnett, alongside bass, guitars and drums, Instant Species take what was so memorable about Britpop but give it something different. In fact, the idea of taking a country song as a cover is almost creeping in during their song writing - that "something different" is probably the enjoyable bits from country, but it is mainly pure and simple enjoyment.

I could have sworn there was a keyboard in both tracks too, but it seems from the band details there isn't - unless they were added during recording.

As you can tell, I've enjoyed listening to this CD but at the same time I've struggled to come up with the words that would give it the credit it deserves and also to aptly describe their sound. Struggling along in finding the words has meant that I've now listened to this CD for the past two weeks day in day out ... and I'm still not bored of it. Which is a sign of well-written songs.

The title track is my favourite as it includes the "obligatory catchy chorus" (thanks Andy), and whilst this track contains a more radio-friendly approach, Instant Species show that they are also capable of writing technical songs in Chartwell. A good blend, and of course - "The Littlest Hobo" to finish with.