The Kooks: Inside In / Inside Out : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

British rock exports have been more hit than miss lately -- Arctic Monkeys, Art Brut, Noisettes, cheers! -- so the Kooks serve as an important reminder that there are just as many mediocre bands in the U.K. as there are here in the States. The faintly ska-tinged pub rock from these floppy-haired Brighton rockers has inexplicably received lots of critical lauds back home. There are a couple of decent Brit-pop numbers on their debut, Inside In/Inside Out -- namely the appealingly sloppy “Eddie’s Gun” and a Verve-like acoustic jam called “Ooh La” -- but the rest is utterly forgettable, shoddily produced retro rock that at its worst sounds like a Brighton-accented version of the Spin Doctors, minus the hit songs and amusing facial hair.