The New Music

Back in 2000, two British bands of a similar ilk took two very different paths. One was Coldplay, a group of London-based students who with the help of a song called “Yellow” became arguably the biggest band on the planet (insert argument that U2 is bigger here) and sold close to 60 million albums. The other was a Manchester band called Doves, who originally tasted some success as dance act Sub Sub and converted over to rock after a fire burnt down their studio.

Doves never quite reached the same mountainous peak as Coldplay. Despite having a similar uplifting excellence and anthemic hugeness to their music, Doves’ “problem” was that they were also stuck somewhere between the Northerner sensibility of Oasis and the atmospheric exploration of Radiohead. What may not have registered with millions found the band chart-topping success in the UK and a strong following worldwide.

This month sees the release of The Places Between: The Best of Doves. A three-disc set that includes one disc of their singles, a second disc of b-sides and a DVD of their videos, the timing might be a little premature but the music speaks for itself.

The album immediately confirms that the band are expert sequencers. They bookmark the first disc with four of their five best tracks. It begins with “There Goes The Fear,” which many feel is Doves’ shining moment: a blithe seven-minute number built around psychedelic guitar lines, Jimi Goodwin’s wearily affirmative voice and a thrilling coda of Carnivalesque polyrhythms. “Black and White Town,” their attempt to go “a little bit Motown,” follows with a muscular backbeat straight out of the Vandellas’ “Jimmy Mack” and an effortlessness to it that made it stand out as the closest thing to pop music they ever recorded.

In between is a selection of strong singles such as Lost Souls’ “Here I Comes,” The Last Broadcast’s “Catch The Sun,” Kingdom of Rust’s “Jetstream” and a new one exclusive to this album called “Andalucia.” It’s midway through, smack dab in the middle, where the album regains its glory. “Pounding,” arguably their best song (read: my favourite song) stomps into the mix with its authoritarian beat, Edge-y guitar scapes and life-affirming chorus. Eight years after it first appeared it’s still as poignant as ever.

“Caught By The River” is the penultimate track, a sprawling, tender ballad that feels as much like a swan song as anything. And then there’s “The Cedar Room,” which closes out the set with the epic, slow-burner they released as their first single back in 1999.

Both the b-sides disc and DVD of videos are icing on the cake and generous companions. Of the b-sides, nothing really challenges any of the a-sides, but songs like the sleepy “Rise” or the harpsichord-led “Valley” would have fit in nicely on Lost Souls and The Last Broadcast, respectively, without taking anything away from those albums.

As a stopgap between albums (or possibly a distraction to decide what to do next), The Places Between reminds established fans that – as this infomercial so eloquently puts it – Doves are “Britain’s most anthemic band,” and hopefully exposes them to a new group of fans. Because as guitarist Jez Williams recently said, Doves are far from over – a comment that can be validated by the quality of last year’s Kingdom of Rust.