Rarely has a band owed so much to one song as Toploader owe to 'Dancing In The Moonlight'. Not only did their cover version of this hitherto obscure blues track make them staples of daytime radio, it also made them extremely rich through its use in an infamous Sainsburys ad starring Jamie Oliver. For all their popularity, however, the Eastbourne outfit's second album confirms the cynics' suspicion that they're no more than an average rock band who happened to get very, very lucky. Magic Hotel was apparently written on Van Morrison's piano and recorded in the same studio as Pet Sounds - but precious little of the magic seems to have worn off here. Toploader's organ-heavy take on 60s soul is workmanlike enough but rarely inspiring, while frontman Joseph Washbourn's whining vocals are lacking in both character and charm. And as with their debut Onka's Big Monka, the band's original material is shamed by the album's lone cover - in this case a boogie version of the Blow Monkeys' Some Kind of Wonderful. Overall, you get the feeling that Toploader's star is set to fade just as quickly as it appeared - unless lightning strikes twice, of course.
