I remember, vividly, the moment I became a Charlatans fan. It was the summer of 1995, the summer of 'brit-pop' in fact. Whilst Oasis and Blur were publicly at each others throats I was sitting on my then girlfriends bedroom floor listening to the debut album by Sleeper. "Hey check this out" she said, "my brother is touring with these guys soon"; she then pulled out The Charlatans new single 'Just Lookin' and turned up the volume. I was mesmerised. It had it all; Stone-esque guitar, youthful swagger, a call to arms chorus. It made me want to get up off my arse and do something, I didn't really know what - just something. I became quickly obsessed with them. Collecting everything they had ever put out with my hard earned Burger King wages; singles, rarities, albums. They were my band. The love affair, unlike the girlfriend, lasted until 2001. Where, album by album I slowly lost faith in their output. Was I just getting older? Were my tastes changing? Or were The Charlatans just turning into middle aged men who should know better than to put out white soul records? Yup, probably the latter.The band themselves would probably beg to differ. But The Charlatans have been stuck in an artistic dry spot since the criminally overlooked 1999 release Us and Us Only. Their first with Tony Rogers (replacement for the late Rob Collins), it saw the band back with a snarling vigour. Energised and focused, it contained some of their finest moments to date; 'Forever', 'The Blonde Waltz' and 'Impossible' particular high points. But something happened after that album. They started to experiment with their formula. Which of course is a necessary thing for a band to remain interested in their own music, but it wasn't always succesful. 2001's Wonderland saw a departure into more funk heavy material, with Tim Burgess adopting a Curtis Mayfield falsetto. Some laughed, some cried, I just stood back rather confused. The follow-up, Up At The Lake was about as middle of the road that The Charlatans can get. It was a woeful album, with embarassing lyrics ("you're the cheese on the top of my toast") and a lack of tunes. It flopped. So did my interest in the band. I still enjoyed going to see them live, they've always been a phenomenal live band and always will be - but as far as studio material was concerned I'd come to the conclusion that they'd well and truly lost it. Simpatico (2006) cemented that thought. The Charlatans had 'gone reggae'. The less said about that record the better. I think even the band themselves are embarassed of that one.The 2006 tour in support of Simpatico saw the band embrace the internet revolution. Tim Burgess, clean of drink and drugs needed something to focus on and decided to do a daily podcast. "This is my own pirate radio show" he sang on the theme tune. The radio show in question featured daily updates on how the tour was going, chats with various band members and just general, random banter. One thing that Burgess stressed constantly during the two week podcast was that the band were still very active on the songwriting front and a new album would be worked on just as soon as the tour had finished.Literally on the same day Radiohead announced they would be giving In Rainbows away for free, The Charlatans also announced they'd be doing pretty much the same thing. In a deal they'd struck with radio station XFM the band would release the singles 'You Cross My Path' and 'Oh! Vanity' followed by the album completely free of charge. The pessimist in me instantly wrote You Cross My Path out. Not really the act of a true fan I know, but my faith in 'my band' had been waining for many years and I just didn't think the world needed yet another piss poor album by the Charlatans.I have to eat my words though. You Cross My Path is what people in the industry like to call "a return to form". It's even had band manager Alan McGee claiming it as "their best record in years... their best since Tellin' Stories. I think for ten years they’ve been a brilliant band but they haven’t fulfilled their full potential until now". Now, I wouldn't go as far as Alan, but then again, I'm not their manager. Yes indeed, The Charlatans have reinvented themselves once more. This time though they've taken a good, long hard look in the mirror and realised what they're actually good at.The heavy-on-the-hammond stomp of 'Oh! Vanity' kick starts things and all of a sudden its 1991 all over again. Floppy fringes and baggy jeans, the Charlatans have gone back to their roots. As the song revolves around the spiralling organ you can almost sense the band grinning to themselves "we've done it chaps!". It contains that magic (and long lost) ingredient that every great Charlatans track needs; youthful abandonment and a true sense of optimism. Like a large percentage of the record, 'Bad Days', 'The Misbegotten' and 'Mis-Takes' are highly comparable to latter day New Order. From Martin Blunt's 'Hookie-esque' bass lines to Burgess' lyrics, that could have come hand picked from Bernard Sumners songbook. The thing that pulls it altogether and makes it still very much a Charlatans album is Tony Rogers' rocksteady Hammond.Things take an interesting turn on the latter half of the record. Most notably with 'My Name Is Despair'. As the title suggests, its dark and brooding. Like a long lost cousin to 'Good Witch, Bad Witch' from Us and Us Only. It's certainly an interesting u-turn and a well needed break from the nostalgia trip. It's as close to the Charlatans get to experimentation without pulling out the 'reggae' card. Thank God.So, the verdict. Well, apart from the odd suspect lyric "I don't like you and I know you don't like me / I don't wanna touch you, but I felt you, it was creepy" ('Mis-Takes'), "You touch me in a way, like no-one in this world / I don't even know if you're a boy or you're a girl" ('The Misbegotten') and the inability to recreate the greatness of past work 'This Is The End' (think a 2008 version of 'Sproston Green' falling flat on its arse) its a fairly solid effort. The Charlatans are a band that, although not highly relevant in 2008, are still fighting their corner and holding their own in a sea of twenty-something wannabees. Free album or not, You Cross My Path has at least restored this particular fans faith in one of the UK's most overlooked bands. Whether the world actually needs another Charlatans album is debatable. But they're back and, for now at least, they're better. 72%Links The Charlatans [myspace] [album download]