Reuben - We Should Have Gone To University Album Review

Review of Reuben's album We Should Have Gone To University.

Reuben never really got the huge fame they deserved, so to see this double disc of fan service get a release is quite surprising. The title of the double disc + DVD is revealing; the band only disassembled in the first place because they needed to go out and get jobs. They never made it off the indies, instead, the band took the option of forming their own label, Hideous Records, to release their last full-length, In Nothing We Trust. Very admirable, for the band to do this- it works for the RX Bandits -but for a minor player in a very big scene to essentially fund themselves, whilst increasingly possible, will usually result in failure. The band are on an indefinite hiatus at the moment- we all know what that means, but, hopefully once they've made some cash they'll start playing music again and sign to a decent label.

The music is as good as Reuben have ever been, and, whilst this isn't the sort of thing you'd listen to in one sitting - it would take all day, to start with - there's a lot of unfulfilled promise here. This isn't the place to start if you've never listened to the band before; that would be debut Racecar is Racecar Backwards, but if you like the band at all, just to support them, buy this. The DVD contains a full set and all their music videos which I'm sure is a great companion piece to this CD. I especially like the covers of Feel Good Inc. and The Hand That Feeds on CD2. There are 47 tracks here and not one single dud.

In the back of my mind sits an idea that in a few years time maybe someone important will listen to this and decide to re-release the brilliant three albums Reuben made with some decent promotion. Then the band can finally get paid.

Conrad Hughes