The Coral introduced the concept of the raggle-taggle cosmic Scouser, but it’s their Liverpool brethren the Zutons who have surprisingly broken biggest. Their Mercury- nominated debut, Who Killed the Zutons?, sold 600,000 copies, and they have supported numerous big guns (U2, Oasis, the Killers). And all this without riding any insurgency, trend or even any kind of striking identity. Can you name their frontman? (It’s David McCabe.)

Shock, horror, it must be down to the music alone, or the fact that Fifty Quid Man, the middle-aged modern music buyer, wants a slab of honking rock boogie from time to time. McCabe, as this follow-up confirms, does have an unnerving handle on big fat hooklines, and in this age of new wave recycling, the band’s blend of 1950s jive- pop, 1960s garage-rock stomp (the Animals and the Standells come to mind) and 1970s glam guitar squeal is almost heroic in its old- fashioned commitment to having a good time. It’s a record of parping sax, handclaps, on-the road sagas (the pounding It’s the Little Things We Do laments hangovers; the swaying Valerie is named after a fan McCabe encountered on tour in America) and four-to-the- floor beats. Next to Arctic Monkeys’ caustic northern grit, the Zutons sound like something from Ready Steady Go. Topped by McCabe’s bluesy holler, and brought into meatier relief than their debut by the new producer Stephen Street, this album sounds as if it will sell another 600,000, probably more.

But, eventually, Tired of Hanging Around’s nostalgic hit machine hits the wall of diminishing returns. The Zutons sparkle and they stomp, but they don’t enthral, and you’re left longing for something more lysergic and unexpected — qualities, in fact, that the Coral have in abundance. Someone Watching Over Me’s C&W slant and I Know I’ll Never Leave’s soul crescendos are this album’s equivalent of taking chances, but the frothy Oh Stacey is more like Showaddywaddy on steroids.

Ultimately, though, it’s a bit churlish to criticise an album for what it’s not, and far from being killed, Fifty Quid Man will find the Zutons in very rude health indeed.

MARTIN ASTON