Reviewed by Mo Longfellow
Album released - 24th May 24
If ever there was a hook to get you into an album, this is it. Adamson’s new album ‘Cut To Black’ starts with a belter, ‘The last Words of Sam Cooke’. Much like Adamson himself, it’s as cool as the ice cubes in the large dose of whatever you charge your glass with. It drives, it’s funky, it’s just all round, well, cool.
Barry Adamson is nothing short of a visionary. He’s always been known for his eclectic style and in this, his latest album, he once again demonstrates his unparalleled creativity. The production of the album is off the charts good, with a melee of immaculately produced instrumentation and lyrics that feel like he’s off loading a life long story woven into an epic tale of biblical proportions.
The whole album has a feel of the 1950s to it. In my minds eye I see Tommy gun touting suits tapping their shiny, two tone shoes along to each number in a room filled with cigar smoke.
There isn’t a bad, or even, nearly bad number on this album.
I’m fortunate enough to be able to shoot his show at The Brudenell in Leeds on 30th May. If you’ve read this far, I’m pretty sure you don’t need me to tell you I can’t wait!!
Definitely, definitely one to listen to.
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Reviewed by Stuart Clarkson
Album released - 31st May 24
When Andy Bell answered an advert placed by Vince Clarke in a 1985 edition of Melody Maker who could have predicted the set of events that would follow.
However here we are almost 40 years,18 albums and upwards of 25 million sales later.
During that time the duo have become a by word for infectious, feel good , dancey electro pop.
Their eighth studio album , 1997’s Cowboy is about to become the latest in an ongoing series of overdue CD re-issues.
The album reached the top ten on its original release and it’s now been treated to an expanded 2CD hardback book edition. Disc 1 contains a new 2024 remaster of the original album whilst Disc 2 holds a collection of B sides ,demos, classic re-mixes and live tracks from The Tiny Tour.
The deluxe package is completed by a hardback book 28 page booklet containing sleeve notes by Matt Smith at Electronic Sound.
The albums 3 singles, Rain, Into My Arms and Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me are all examples of finely crafted classic pop with the latter being the pick of the bunch. It’s a genuine uplifting, life affirming pop anthem which remains a gem despite the passage of time.
Other tracks such as Treasure and Worlds On Fire ensure that the quality count is maintained with melodic pop vibes and catchy choruses.
Disc 2 reveals several hidden treasure and a highlight is the acoustic version of Into My Arms which reveals the true beauty of the song.
Two Blondie cover versions seem natural territory for the boys and the live version of Heart of Glass brings the album to a triumphant close. An extended version of Rapture is good but confirms , much as the original did that rapping isn’t for everyone.
Elsewhere 5 previously unreleased versions of songs will be of interest to completists.
In summary, there’s plenty in this release to attract existing Erasure devotees especially given the previously unreleased tracks. as well as newer fans seeking a high energy pop fix from a couple of its finest purveyors.
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Reviewed by Mo Longfellow
Album released 31st May 24
Richard Hawley’s new album ‘In This City They Call You Love’ is such a lovely album, it meanders along with beautiful lyrics and Hawley’s usual warm, rich vocals. He really is a remarkable artist whose music always seems to keep you captivated and in the moment. With his soulful voice and stunning guitar sound,
Hawley has created an album that is both melancholic and uplifting, introspective and hopeful.
Each track on the album tells a story, weaving together melodies and poignant lyrics that linger in your mind even when the album has finished. He has a distinctive sound, reminiscent of the classic crooners of the past but with a modern twist, it’s both familiar and fresh and I’m loving it.
As ever with Hawley's music it is emotive and captivating, drawing you in with each note of each number.
Overall, this album is a triumph of artistry and emotion. It is a timeless collection of songs that will undoubtedly stand the test of time as is always the case with his music.
Another one to add to the must by vinyl list!
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Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 14th June 24
When John Cale was unceremoniously given the order of the boot from the Velvet Underground, having washed their hands of his more experimental tendencies seemingly in favour of delivering the deliberate attempt at radio airplay that was Loaded, attempting to veer into Abbey Road- period Beatles territory, Who Loves The Sun perhaps a bleaker cousin of Here Comes The...., the Welsh wizard could have simply washed his hands of it & carried on crafting works which skirted around the fringes of accessibility to kick off his solo career.
Until around 2012 it seemed that was exactly what he would do- until a few Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood saw him find a little hip- hop & incorporate its beats alongside a smattering of everything he'd thrown at his previous works, a move which has carried on across MFANS, his reimagining of 1982's Music For A New Society & last year's Mercy with collaborators ranging from two- fourths of Animal Collective ( Avey Tare & Panda Bear) to Weyes Blood, & its the likes of Story Of Blood from that record which seem to inform much of what goes down here alongside a little J- funk, to shamelessly borrow from Dr Dre's lexicon, though where that relied on samples, Cale relies on his own ear to the ground to make the beats work for him.
Its first two singles- How We See The Light & Shark- Shark- prove, at least, that he's not lost the intensity of the likes of Fear but merely tempered it to suit his latest sonic playground, having toyed since his Velvets days with the possibilities of dissonance, Poptical Illusion suggesting another cult success deep within the bowels of Nookie Wood, straight outta Garnant.
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Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 5th July 24
Can you ever truly outgrow a hit as niche as Hocus Pocus?
And perhaps equally worthy a question is when do you stop trying?
Either way those who know Focus only through their one big radio hit risk missing out on a late- blooming resurgence under the auspices of Dave Brock's nearest Dutch equivalent in Thijs Van Leer, sole remaining member of the line up which put yodelling on the map in what must even now rank as at least one of the biggest surprise moves even for a genre so outwardly ambitious as prog!
And should you give this a go, you'll find plenty of the get up & go which inspired their recent Refocused project.
Having another stab at some of their earlier stuff in a similar fashion to Hawkwind's Road To Utopia, which carried on their own resurgence since switching to Cherry Red Records. A worthy sequel then to Focus 11, the first run-out for the latest line up to take a punt on restoring one of Holland's best kept cult secrets alongside Shocking Blue.
We can only hope this moves them out from under the radar.
Reviewed by Neil Milner
Album released 21st June 24
All the ingredients are there for this to be a classic debut. Their name, location, album title and album cover. And yet, it doesn't quite cut the mustard for me.
It’s a competent and well-delivered record. They’ve arrived fully formed and are technically excellent. But it’s a record that could have been released at any point over the last 30 years of so.
The album could easily be called ‘Now that’s what I call alternative rock 1990-2020’. There are things in this record to love and admire. I hear Ride and Radiohead. I definitely hear Interpol on title track ‘Scream from New York, NY’, and ‘Simmer’. But we have an Interpol. I wanted to hear Been Stellar, but I’m struggling to understand who they are on this record.
But make no mistake, they are musically dextrous and brilliant with a tight, spot-on rhythm section. The arrangements are solid, and songs well crafted. It’s clear they have enormous potential. They need to be bolder and take risks with their art and sound.
Opening track ‘Start Again’ sounds like it could have been made by New Model Army. ‘Passing Judgement’, is watered down Janes Addiction. ‘Sweet’ has the strong shoegazing vibe of earlyish Ride and is a great song. Shimmer has echoes of Radiohead and borrows Tom Yorke’s vocal arrangement style. ‘I have the answer closes the record, which I initially thought was Cigarettes After Sex after the shoegazing intro ended.
‘Can’t look away’, is an example of the kind of daring they should aspire to. It’s an adrenaline rush and takes no prisoners. It stands out on this record and is more of a Sonic Youth template approach to rock, which they should aspire to, but in their own way.
There’s a lot to love and admire on this record, but also frown at and reproach exclaiming, ‘Seriously’! If they were a football team, I would say they are presently a good, solid Championship side with strong potential to reach the Premier League.
But a short period of time slugging it out with the likes of Millwall and Preston North End, (no disrespect), may help their development, but only if they remember the prize is to reach the promised land.
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Reviewed by Levi Tubman
Album released 5th July 24
Essex indie band The Rifles are back with their highly anticipated 6th album. Spending the past 2 decades growing in the UK music scene with increasing popularity and sales its set to be their biggest yet.
Opening track, The Kids Wont Stop, starts relaxed with bird song giving way to laid back pop rock, briefly easing you in to the record before the pace and volume picks up, with lyrics like “A million and one different bills to pay” singing of the weather and the world spinning on, the patches of frantic paced music working well to help emphasise the almost hurried exasperation of the lyrics.
Mr Sunflower is as upbeat and happy as the title sounds, guitars working around a slow ska upstroke, drifting into sections verging on flower pop repeatedly singing Love love love your neighbour, the lyrics are full of friendly sharing themes, love your neighbours, take them a sunflower and make friends and make people smile.
This happy energy carries on with Out For The Weekend, but dialled up a notch or two, with running baselines and drum breaks, it’s a more party anthem celebrating the break for the working week, being happy, free and forgetting your name. With the energy and feel of a weekend celebration, they’ve teamed up with Signature Brew to bring you their own lager also called Out For The Weekend for you to enjoy with the record on the weekend.
In the middle of the record, Fall Apart shifts the mood completely, fuller more complex musically, it’s a slower melancholy number, they do happy go lucky fun so well, this switch in the theme of the album shows their skills as song writers and musicians, able to produce longer slower ballads layering vocals instead of instruments.
Money Go Round is an Indie hit straight out of the 90’s, with organ, staccato guitar and running bass, light on the lyrics, with the line Money Go Round taking up 90% of the words, its more of an instrumental track that’s had a few words added to it to fill it out, by no means a criticism its simple but works so well it rises up high on the album.
Ending the album, Starting Monday, is a long reflective slow burn, singing My Minds Out Of Shape, Its Taken Its Toll, it does build up to the pace we’ve come to expect and a more positive outlook, with lyrics like Im Turning My Life around, but not long before bringing everything back down again, undulating between the two styles throughout it leaves you feeling upbeat and positive and ready to start your Monday.
While it's an often overused word, the album is catchy, they have little hooks throughout that get your feet moving, with riffs and songs that work into your head. You can hear the Rifles sound across all the tracks, but it feels a touch more grown up and refined.
It's clearly an album by a band who haven’t lost who they are, and instead grown and matured their style and sound, managing to keep to their roots while still giving us something new, and what could be their best album to date.
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 5th July 24
A dose of snotty social realism awaits should you dip into III, Honey Joy somehow managing to come across as the unlikely love children of X- Ray Spex, the Slits & Wire, all mostly in under three minutes.
Final song Thursdays at 8pm is perhaps the most withering of the attacks here, the futility of clapping for carers in a world which seemingly either can't or won't afford the unsung heroes the respect they deserve rightly drawing ire.
Prior to that it seems the focus is inward, Language concerned with being unable to put feelings into words, Live 100 % probably the highlight with its message of life minus compromise amidst a nagging sense of doubt.
Are You Still Having Fun? the most insistent harbinger of it as at times almost sickly sweet tunes hide considerably more grown- up lyrics, a theme kicked off with Ready Now to open things up, the head- on collision of Pink Flag, Germfree Adolescents & Cut surely more than enough to draw in the curious.
Reviewed by Levi Tubman
Album released 2nd Aug 24
This is the eagerly awaited second album from Millie Sanders And The Shutup, but it feels like it could be their third or fourth, with how settled in as a band they sound and with how present they seem to be, its proof that great music, effort and energy can make it feel like you’ve been doing this for a couple of decades now.
The album opens in classic shut up style with a catchy upbeat guitar riff and vocals but it doesn’t take long before the whole band comes in with 100% the brass adding bright splashes and following the vocal line perfectly under “I Broke The World” with sections leaving you wondering how does she find time to breath, with running basslines under the constant driving drums and guitars, you get the whole Millie Manders experience in one song. I Hated life, I cried Inside, But On My Face I Wore A smile. Lyrically the song hits just as hard, looking back on her youth, and the sadness and anger may feel and some still do, it’s a very personal song from a singer who isn’t afraid to lay everything out bare, a theme the band carry throughout.
By far the heaviest track on the album is Me Too. Everything is played just that little harder, unlike their usual mix of happy music and serious words, the playful edge and ska is gone, tempered with a tone more in line with the lyrics. Taking its name from the Me Too movement, it draws heavily on women often getting the blame with lines like “You Blame The Girl For Being Weak” and “It Doesn’t Matter What We Wear” it really holds no punches, attacking the system for how it fails to work and needs to change, just how hard it is to say something when it puts the spotlight on you the victim, “Stands in front of the judge her knickers on display” and how the women in question feel like they are the ones on trial. This is without doubt the best song on the album, the words really get into you and take hold, with some beautiful vocal and bass work, but it feels almost wrong to enjoy a song about such a serious matter. That’s the key, serious matter, and if this catchy song helps get the message out there then that’s what matters.
Fun Sponge, we all know one, that mood hoover that even without trying manages to draw all fun and atmosphere out of every place they are! I can’t imagine there’s a Fun Sponge big enough to take on this band, but the lyrics say otherwise, there’s someone out there that’s managed to bring them down, and you have to love a band that’s tackled it with the most fun song on the album. Oh and you’ll learn some wonderful new names for these lovely people in our lives.
Halloween, that track you often find in the second half of the album, where everything steps back a little, guitars if not acoustic are quieter and refrained, with the vocal taking centre stage, yes, the ballad. I think Millie has an often underrated voice, here it’s so up front, that even when the band picks up its still the most prominent part, hitting some wonderful driving notes that might otherwise not work in their more punk numbers, I never knew just how big her range was until hearing this. It’s a little sad and reflective, singing “Autumn feels so much colder now I don’t get to hear your laugh” but its sang in such a beautiful way it’s a standout track with a huge up-tempo string filed outro, showing just how creative a band they are.
Threadbare features focuses on their personal experience with the cost of living crisis. With mainly spoken vocals, it echo’s the voice of many, singing about “One More Year Of Trying” and “There’s A Certain Kind Of Tummy Ache That Comes From Money Problems” and how the clothes, like the songs title, are Threadbare. While it’s an all too common story in recent years, its made to feel more personal, this is just one voice among many, but with a saxophone echoing the vocal melody, it’s a voice with a lot of backing
There are bands where you have angry distorted music mixed with caustic vocals screaming down the mic, and on the other end bubble gum happy pop music with lyrics about rainbows and sunshine, with everything in between, and then you get Millie Manders. Now they’re not the first band to mix serious and at times angry lyrics to the backdrop of upbeat carefree music, but they do it well, it’s an artform in their hands. It’s hard to get a hammer blow without a hammer, but here it is. With the exception of one line the vocals are never forced and to the extreme, instead the words do the heavy lifting here for you, and the ska tinged pop punk helps smooth the way for them, it really is a spoon full of sugar helping the medicine go down.
It feels dirty to employ an overused cliché talking about such well written songs, but I don’t have their skills!
And all along you have this fun energetic pop ska punk sound with some of the catchiest riffs I’ve heard in a long time. This is not just a fantastic record, it’s an important one, they write what they know, unfortunately they and the world don’t always know joy, hopefully this helps change the narrative.
Reviewed by Chris Morley
Album released 9th Aug 24
For an album about tomorrow, Beabedoobee's latest feels winningly steeped in the past- file alongside the likes of TLC & All Saints, particularly Real Man, perhaps a reflection that James Brown's contention that its a man's world hasn't changed all that much & therefore music like this still has a place in an only nominally more progressive space....
Tie My Shoes is another winsome rumination on similar, a more mature take on the sort of girl power which formed the backbone of the Spice Girls' Nineties gospel before Girl Song strips things back both musically & figuratively at the piano, a sort of Your Song for today's overworked & overstressed professional member of the fairer sex, universal sentiment put across in deceptively simple fashion.
In light of which the following Coming Home feels like a dream sequence, addressed to a partner whether real or imagined yet still completely relatable, a sort of Motown of the mundane ( see also the likes of Sorry Again, Mate from Field Music's Plumb, the everyday gone widescreen).
In a similar vein, the second half of proceedings feels similarly addressed to either a disappointing reality or a dream which sounded good in theory, Taylor Swift- ish levels of ambiguity across all from Everseen- This Is How It Went to close things off with shades of 1989, though wisely underplayed & nicely understated in stark contrast to that juggernaut of unashamed pop perfection for the sisterhood, who might find plenty to like here....
Reviewed by Levi Tubman
Album released 23rd Aug 24
Body Meat is the shapeshifting musical project of producer Chris Taylorm, with this his debut album being described as “weaves a narrative akin to a hero's journey” so with that I have no idea what to expect.
Opening up with A Tone In The Dark, it is dark, its low moody and feels like the room should be shaking, but then it glides up, it’s like you’ve gone up through a rain storm and bursts out above the clouds into the sunlight, and it’s all so calm. There’s a smooth string lead weaving throughout the wide soft almost dreamlike atmosphere created by everything underneath, its only 2:50 long but its breathtakingly beautiful, and I didn’t quite get everything in the first listen.
Following that up is The Mad Hatter, and I hit a wall. The vocals are intentionally highly processed, with over the top of an electronic track, which is catchy and bounces about, but the vocals spoil it for me unfortunately, it’s a personal taste but I had to turn it off which is a shame because the music is so interesting.
High Beams brings in an industrial element that’s worked so well, the whole track feels full of life and energy, its home would be a club in an old warehouse, it’s very much its own animal, but again the processed vocals stop it for me.
The hero’s journey narrative does come through in the record, a lot of the sounds and music makes you feel you’re in a computer game traversing levels, with the calmer sparse Northside coming across like a retro platform or adventure game, and with a lot of the album really uses the stereo field well, with sounds either bouncing left to right or having a musical call and response from the left and right.
Musical this album has so much going on, you won’t hear everything the first time round, and you’ll hear it differently on headphones and speakers. The writing and production is complex, and its done well, it would be so easy to have all the sounds and instrumentation sound messy and unintelligible, but it’s been handled with expert hands.
The vocal processing on the other hand is such a hard no from me, it made parts hard to listen to and I found myself skipping parts or stopping for a while before coming back to it. I know I’m not the target audience for this album, and the vocals are a taste that simply isn’t mine.
Taking that away though its musically captivating and intriguing with some really exceptional parts, at times akin to Aphex Twin, While this isn’t for me I can appreciate it for what it is, and it’s had me listening to more electronic music recently that I usually would.
Reviewed by Stuart Condie
Album released 23rd Aug 24
Since releasing his first EP in 2010, Dallas-born singer / songwriter Andrew Combs has kept up a steady output with studio albums appearing in 2012 (Worried Man), 2015 (All These Dreams), 2017 (Canyons of My Mind), 2019 (Ideal Man) and 2022 (Sundays) before this new album, Dream Pictures in 2024. If six albums over 14 years feels like a relaxed pace, that sits well with the overall feel of Dream Pictures. This is definitely not for adrenaline junkies and you’ll never use it to get the party started, but it most certainly could fit an after-party wind down and relax kind of vibe. It has all the feel of things that could be on your mind at the end of a day. Moments of tension, and there are some, aren’t created by clashing instrumentation or sudden juxtapositions but by lyrical subtleties instead.
Musically we’re in country territory with familiar, but not cliched, passages of pedal-steel guitar and an almost total absence of anything which could be called a riff. The drumming is consistently understated; something to keep time by and punctuate rather than set the pulse racing or get the feet tapping. Tempos are generally relaxed and the arrangements are supportive without intruding. None of these songs outstays their welcome with extended play outs or endless repetitions of a chorus through to fade out. These songs say what they need to say and then stop.
If any of that sounds negative, it’s not meant to be. There are songs here which are destined to be someone’s favourite way to end a hectic day, someone’s comfort in a bad break up, someone’s go to for a slow dance (with someone else, I hope) and someone’s justification for one more glass of wine before calling it a night.
Appropriately enough, it’s with wine that we kick things off. Fly in My Wine is the outlier in this set. A gentle piano figure cuts through some almost intelligible cocktail bar chatter until the mood changes with the droning buzz of the titular fly. In isolation, I had no idea what to make of this and couldn’t really reach for comparators (although Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast from Atom Heart Mother and its sounds of frying bacon is in the same neck of the woods). Listening to the whole album through though, I’m persuaded that this might tie in with the later Table for Blue which also references “expensive wine”. If this is the artist deliberately puncturing the overall (fairly) serious tone of the album, he should be applauded. A slightly more cynical view would see this as a reminder that even when things are going well, there’s always something to take the shine off, but I think that’s out of tune with the overall feel. (Spoiler; no insects were harmed in the making of this album.)
The first proper song Eventide is a better mark of the album as a whole. I’m taking this and its easy pace as a gentle celebration of trust and friendship and having someone who is “my back against the wall”. Musically the bubbling synth figure which emerges towards the end of the song was initially unsettling, but it makes sense if you run this song straight into the next one, Point Across. The synth drops away leaving a chorus over simple but insistent piano chords before the album’s first proper involvement of pedal steel guitar. If there’s a message to be found in this I’d guess it’s about making the most of the time we have to say what we mean.
Although I’m generally distrustful of songs featuring too much in the way of “La La La”, Heavy the Heart uses the device as the first stage in something which gradually and subtly builds through impressive vocal harmonies and a shuffle beat. Overall the mood, as with much of this album, is one of unhurried reflection. Of all the songs in this set, Mary Gold is probably the one most directly addressed to someone specific. The extended references to flowers and to the colour gold are clever. The relationship with the addressee is ambiguous, “If you’re looking for a friend, Put your hand in mine and I’ll take you dancing” isn’t exactly a declaration of undying love; maybe admiration is nearer the mark. Great pedal steel solo on this one.
I found Your Eyes and Me positively creepy after a few plays and I don’t really want to dwell on the back story that’s hinted at. The tone is one of regret for a love gone wrong (for whatever reason) and an acknowledgement of “your melancholy like a curtain in between your eyes and mine” which gets in the way of attempts to “remember the good we had before the bad”. Melancholy and the tendency for it to intrude on memory are also a feature of Genuine and Pure. If the whole song tends to the rose-tinted, there are smart little lyrical stabs such as describing “sorrow like a foreign tongue I never knew”. Big washes of pedal steel sit behind and help to colour all this reverie.
I’m Fine is my favourite song from the album. It captures the bitterness, the contradictions and the “what ifs” of a break up quite beautifully. The verses set up just how badly our protagonist is feeling (“punching the wall”) before the chorus dismisses and underplays it all. “Time keeps moving but it’s moving too slow” and a private recognition of things unravelling are in sharp and bitter contrast to the public statement, “I’m fine, Couldn’t be Better, I’m Fine. Yes I’m fine, You hardly ever cross my mind”. In fact, it’s all he’s thinking about. Combs’ vocals are at their most exposed and vulnerable here perfectly matching the mood.
If all the songs here are very personal, Table for Blue feels like the one which most obviously features characters. The song is written from the perspective of a waiter observing and fantasising over a female diner he clearly doesn’t know. She has “sad eyes, expensive wine” while he has “dirty dishes” to keep him busy. It’s a song about a sort of longing for what he knows to be unattainable and a fantasy but is potent enough for him to be writing a song for her. I think it’s smart that this song doesn’t linger long enough to raise concerns that the observation or longing becomes unhealthy. To Love changes the musical mood. There is an insistent beat; are we dancing? Well, no. The tone remains dreamy with echoey vocals and a pondering of the cosmic mystery of how “to love and to be loved”. There’s an almost rocky distorted but ultimately controlled guitar solo and some faraway vocals to end the song.
In some ways The Sea in Me is a companion piece to I’m Fine. It’s another break up or impending break up situation but this time from the other side. The sea represents constant motion, restlessness and the inevitability that things will have to move on whether he wants it or not. The album rounds off with the title track Dream Pictures which again plays with memory or snatches of memory through clever use of the past tense and contrasts. I particularly like, “She’s a mountain and I am just a pebble in the sea” as an image. There is no wallowing or self-pity in all of this and again there is a sense of inevitability.
This album won’t set a fire under you and won’t have you storming any barricades, but it might prompt some reflection and a bit of recognition of times when things didn’t go quite as you imagined or hoped they would. It may even prompt you to indulge in some nostalgia or reverie of your own. Musically it’s a comforting experience and Combs never gives the impression of being anything other than in complete control even when reaching into the falsetto range. I’m confident he could cut loose if he wanted to but here he gives absolute priority to some clever, confident lyricism and there’s a comfort to recognising and identifying so much of what he describes.
1. Fly in My Wine 1.31
2. Eventide 3.31
3. Point Across 3.07
4. Heavy the Heart 3.20
5. Mary Gold 3.43
6. Your Eyes and Me 3.12
7. Genuine and Pure 3.43
8. I’m Fine 4.14
9. Table for Blue 3.41
10. To Love 3.27
11. The Sea in Me 4.44
12. Dream Pictures 2.59