In the vastly overestimated, over-saturated world of post-’60s Invasion Britpop, Supergrass has never quite gotten its due in the United States. (What’s the Story) Morning Glory remains the staple ’90s British rock album in the American public’s consciousness making Oasis the currently embarrassing torchbearer. But next to Supergrass’ I Should Coco or In It for the Money, Oasis’s crowning achievement comes across sulky and feigned.

Fourteen years and six albums deep, the raucous blokes who once sang “Alright” and “Mansize Rooster” have somehow managed to age with incredible grace. To be fair, lead singer Gaz Coombes recently turned 32, and no one in the group has yet to hit the big 4-0. Their music still hinges on exuberance as much as pop-craft, and though they do not thrash quite as hard as in the good ol’ days, the band members sound up for just about anything.

After the restrained acoustic structure of 2005’s Road to Rouen (a worthwhile departure from the norm), Supergrass returns from the studio with Diamond Hoo Ha, an album as blatantly glam-rocked out as the title suggests. Never one to hide its influences (T. Rex and New York Dolls tend to edge out The Beatles and The Who this time around), the band channels the greats of yesteryear while adding another notch in its increasingly impressive legacy. It embraces the party spirit of its earlier albums with just enough maturity to keep everything in check.

“Never a dull moment” seems to be the motto on Diamond, from the amps-to-11 opener “Diamond Hoo Ha Man” through the epic synthesizer and piano build of “Butterfly.” On the latter, Supergrass sprawls out across five minutes of perfectly indulgent rock, the sort of song Rocky would have ran up the stairs to had he been a British club-hopper in drag makeup rather than an American boxer in gym sweats.

“Millions of people with butterfly wings/ Your time and decisions can lead to anything,” Coombes sings over the soaring lead guitar before urging his listeners to “write your opinions on the toilet walls.” Whether or not you prefer to try and make sense out of that or ignore the lyrics altogether, it’s hard to resist Supergrass’s irresistible hooks.

Seriously, Coombes and Co. sweat out power-pop gems 11 at a time. In the way Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” has always rendered Coldplay’s entire discography superfluous, “Rebel in You” presents a convincing case as to why the world never needs to hear more from The Killers.

At least some Americans have been listening intently. On both sides of the channel, plenty of bands have borrowed as generously from Supergrass as Supergrass has from The Jam and other more immediate British staples before them. And for all the great young bands emerging from America’s cockney counterparts in international exile, the Diamond Hoo Ha Men have more than enough to teach the boys.

“Rough Knuckles” marries a shoe-gazer’s chorus to some David Byrne white-boy funk, segueing into the lovely (yes, glam rock can be lovely) “Ghost of a Friend.” Though nothing on Diamond veers too far from the established Supergrass sound, the band demonstrates remarkable versatility within its niche.

The keyboards float lightly through the mix, punctuated with the wailing lead guitar fills on “Ghost” and make a brilliant contrast to the jagged refrains of “Whiskey & Green Tea” and “Bad Blood.”

There are a few quieter moments on the album when Coombes allows himself a little “me” time for reflection. Only one such moment does not land quite as well as the harder, more jubilant songs. “When I Needed You” stands out as the lone toss-away song, a tragic little twig tossed in between the whirling spokes – it breaks quickly enough, only temporarily gumming up the breakneck pace to the finish line. Of course, quality is relative in this case, and the tune certainly holds up to anything Oasis has put out in the last decade.

As an album, Diamond Hoo Ha’s only real limitations belong to the creators. For its entire career, Supergrass has never been a group with wildly lofty ambitions. The band members may never piece together a masterpiece to rival the albums in their record collections, and they are probably better off not trying.

Supergrass manages to deliver an enjoyable (and occasionally great) batch of songs each and every go-round. They have successfully created ear candy for fun people, a difficult enough feat in itself, without ever striving for much more.

Any band would be lucky to have half as many Hoo Has to their name.

zherrm@umd.edu

RATING: 4 STARS OUT OF 5