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So this time last week we went to see Keane rehearsing some songs in south east London.
Here is one of the songs.
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Here's dishy pianist Tim Rice Oxley's bottom.
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We've had a while to live with their new album, 'Perfect Symmetry', now, and while we can't exactly say it's a return form — because the band never really went off form — it's a real step up in gear for a band so good they became one of Britain's best guitar bands without even having a guitarist. The unusual 80s influences of some of the leaked tracks — the spectacular opening trio of 'Spiralling', 'The Lovers Are Losing' and 'Better Than This' — give way, as the album progresses, for a lush and (obviously) melodic album which takes in new production sounds but also sticks to Core Keane Brand Values.
The title track's a complete killer, while other songs like 'Track 07' (we didn't put the track titles into iTunes and then lost the sleeve — sorry about that), Track 10 (which has got some French bits in it) and Track 11 are up there with Keane's very best.
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One of the songs has got some live Stylophone action in it: amazing.
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Here they are, singing a little song. (The song they were singing was 'Spiralling', and the full version has a longer bit of Tom's Bono bit in the middle eight, which makes it all the more exciting when it all comes back in.)
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Hang on, who's that fourth member?
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It's Mr Cabbagehead. He's probably still in the studio now, wondering when the band are coming back. Wondering, wishing and, crying. :(