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The Elephant 6-endorsed psych pop mainstays The Tables announce their farewells with this latest studio set, and 'Nevermynd the Hillocks' certainly is a fitting end to their musical whimsy, even functioning as a sort of career summary, pulling together all those loose threads from their former endeavours. Some will wince at the twee lyrical imagery and musical meta-absurdity, and the band has obviously studied at the altar of TV Personalities and a children's book-reading Syd Barrett, as made clear by not-so-clever song titles including Living Next Door to Alice in Wonderland and Professor Branestawm's Pancake-Making Machine. Lyrically, it's the more poignant, nostalgic tracks that stick out, notably the introspective All the Roads to Happiness, and the illustrious Chase the Rainbow, the latter a moving swansong that somehow manages to move above and beyond its clichéd title. The Loch Ness Mouse-assisted contribution (I Divorced a) Monster from Outer Space is the true gem, though, a self-confidently strutting piece of charmingly naïve psych pop, exemplifying all that was good about The Tables in the first place, stating a good case for their informal cleverness and melodic ingenuity.

Stein Haukland
CWAS #12 - Summer 2003

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