I never got into the first album at all, I ended up getting rid of it after a while always found it fairly bland pubrock (Oasis, Doves, Brakes and other boring crap) with a hint of Primal Scream.
This new album has so much more going for it loving 'Where did all the love go' and 'thick as thieves'. However 'Vlad the Impaler' is a huge dollop of suck though!