Cast 'Alright'

Chart Peak: 13

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'Alright', A No. 13 hit in September 1995, was the follow-up to the storming 'Finetime'... It gave the fab four (John, Liam, Peter & Keith) their second hit of the year

Making the first of their many Now appearances here, Cast were very much part of the second wave of Britpop; in the early days when the word was first used it concentrated on more ironic, art-schooly acts like Suede and Saint Etienne, whereas this particular foursome were at almost the opposite end of the indie spectrum. Indeed it seems rather a quirk of history that this was ever called alternative music at all, because they'd surely have seen their antecedents as the likes of The Who, very much mainstream acts in their day.

That said, 'Alright' does have its own claim to indie heritage insofar as it dates back to John Power's days in the La's. Indeed that group used to play it live but never recorded it: a radio session recording appears on the recent box set and is probably the closest there'll ever be to a studio version by the La's. It was an obvious single choice for Power's second band, though, and with the demand there was for guitar-led pop in 1995 an unsurprising hit (coincidentally it peaked at exactly the same position as 'There She Goes'). I didn't buy the single, but I subsequently borrowed the album from a fellow sixth-former, and ultimately bought my own copy. I'd pretty much put it away for years until I started doing this blog, but I listened to it again yesterday and rather enjoyed it. Cast were never a really important act but sometimes they did what they did pretty well and this, though not their strongest single, is by no means their weakest. Today, that's enough for me.

Also appearing on: Now 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 43
Available on: Summer