NME Reviews The Universal Want

The NME gives The Universal Want 9/10..

It’s a rare thing to find a record that flows from start to finish after such a lengthy break. Just ask The Stone Roses –even they struggled to rustle up two half-baked songs during their tumultuous third coming in 2016.

Title track ‘The Universal Want’ comes on like a haunting piano ballad, before bursting into a stomping house groove, harking back to producer A Guy Called Gerald’s 1988 Hacienda classic ‘Voodoo Ray’. While there’s nothing on here quite as fist pumping as Doves classics ‘Pounding’ or ‘There Goes The Fear’, the excellent ‘Prisoners’ and ‘Cycle Of Hurt’ come pretty close.

It may have taken over a decade for Doves to pour their souls into ‘The Universal Want’ but if it turns out to be their final transmission, it will be a worthy closing chapter to their epic legacy.

To read the full NME review, click here.