“The National Health”: talk about opening a can of worms… Fear not folks, Maxïmo Park’s provocatively-titled fourth studio effort is no po-faced, “state of the nation” address: it’s a distillation of everything that’s had us listeners hooked since A Certain Trigger. With singer and lyricist Paul Smith offering up a winning combination of subtlely subversive commentary and emotive, romantic musings, and the band delivering huge hooks and soaring, synth-flecked melodies, this is the album the band are billing as “the greatest hits record we’ve never had.” And in these bleak economic times, life-affirming indie-pop like this is just what the nation needs.