This album plays like a version of britpop that’s been left on the counter just a bit too long and it’s starting to grow some mildew, going a little green around the edges. Some reviewers called it a midlife crisis of an album - I think it sounds like more of a last breath of a genre, like the band still loves the distinctly British genre they helped popularize but realizes that the glory days just might be over. But that being said, it’s a mystery how this still manages to be such a fun listen. It’s as if this album is searching for the limits of how much gloom you can throw at the “keep calm and carry on” attitude before you break it.

From the roundup Greatest Albums of 1998.