Made Of Bricks - Kate Nash

Any regular readers of this site, and there must be at least three of you, might think that you know exactly what's coming up in the space of this review. Well let me just say right off the bat that you might be a little surprised.

Because although I should absolutely love this record, given the fact I like Nash, think she's great live and I'm in love with her, there is just something that stops me a little short of outright adoration.

For instance, whilst I'm fully aware that the previous versions of We Get On are not supposed to be the "official" versions, I prefer them to the version that turns up on this album. Similarly, whilst the album version of Merry Happy isn't a million miles away from the demo/Myspace versions I've heard it's new polish takes a little away from what made me fall in love with the song in the first place. And, stop me if this is getting a tad boring now, the same thing applies to The Shit Song. And whilst we're at it, lets lump Mariella in there as well.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't dislike any of those songs at all, they're just not the versions I fell in love with. And it's not as if I've some aversion to all the more polished studio versions. Dickhead is transformed by it's haunting backing, and Birds has just enough "beefiness" added to the backing to elevate it from the much sparser single version.

Then there are the songs I'd previously not heard, such as Pumpkin Song (which ironically, given Nash's recent press statements, is the song that most sounds like Lily Allen) which I enjoyed greatly.

So it all places my in a difficult position. I like the album, in fact I like it quite a lot, but at the same time I can't help but feel disappointed by it. Maybe it's my own fault for expecting so much, but then again that expectation was based on already hearing most of the tracks and seeing her live twice. Who knows, maybe in the weeks to come I'll grow to love these new versions just as much as the old ones.

Or then again, I'm disappointed with what I would call a "great album"...perhaps I'm just mental!