Robb Johnson & The Irregulars
Album: happily Ever After
Label: Irregular
Tracks: 10
Website: http://www.robbjohnson.co.uk

This is the companion album to last year's Once Upon A Time, which Robb's website had (quite honestly and accurately) described as "a superbly loud and lively collection of songs set against the fairy-tales of contemporary Britain and Europe". Happily Ever After is (quite logically) ostensibly to be regarded as its generally-more-positive, life-affirming counterpart.

Well, that was Robb's avowed intention at the time, sure, but events conspired - as they always do! - whereby summer of 2011 happened… and some more songs got written. And so the album's final tracklist just had to proudly include the brilliant When Tottenham Burned (the composition that was named "Song Of The Year" by this very magazine), which comments so powerfully and memorably on last summer's riots. Then the chummily prescient Rupert Says and the compelling yet affectionate (almost Guthrie-esque) Dreams clamoured for inclusion too…

But away from that honourable triptych the mood is suitably upbeat, even cheerful on occasion. Kicking off the album, we find the feelgood anthem Roll This Stone resisting all attempts to keep away from the repeat button, following which there's the punchy, jangly Hey Abbie (tribute to inspirational activist Abbie Hoffman, whose influence pervaded three whole decades). Towards the end of the disc there's Takeaway Girl and the clappy-happy All I Wanna Do, both of which have all the hallmarks of trusty, half-remembered pop classics. And Cinderella is a neat contemporary (post-Wall) fairy-story couched in a catchy Townshend (Quick-One-era) -style setting.

But then, part of the appeal of Robb's songs is always going to reside in their pervasive element of keen nostalgia that's invariably tempered with irony; for instance, The Rendezvous Des Artistes stylishly celebrates one of Robb's favourite Paris café bars. And the whole record is peppered with knowing references to punk and post-punk music, while the tough, visceral drive and unbridled spirit of the playing from Robb's powerhouse Irregulars band (Tim Sanpher on lead guitar, John Forrester on bass and Charlie Waygood on drums) brings back distinct echoes of vintage Clash but entirely devoid of any whiff of tribute-band!

OK, if taken as a cohesive collection maybe Happily Ever After doesn't quite scale the same heights of continuous memorability as its predecessor, but after only a few plays I find it runs it pretty damned close and it's certainly to be celebrated for its consistency, its strength of expression and the quintessentially-Robb unwavering conviction of its writing.

David Kidman