release date: Aug. 21, 2015
format: digital (18 x File, FLAC) (Deluxe Edition)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Tony Hoffer
label: Cooking Vinyl - nationality: Scotland, UK
Track highlights: 2. "Impostors (Little by Little)" - 3. "Baby Don't You Lie to Me!" - 4. "Desperate Guy" - 5. "Thief" - 8. "Slow" - 12. "Down the Road and Back… Again" (bonus track)
4th studio album by The Fratellis follows two years after the fine We Need Medicine (Oct. 2013). Like the debut album Costello Music (Sep. 2006) this is produced by American producer Tony Hoffer who has co-composed all songs here with Jon Fratelli. The standard album count 11 tracks with a total running time reaching 45 minutes. The 'Deluxe Edition' adds another 7 tracks of which 5 are acoustic (demo) versions of tracks from the album clocking in at more than 70 minutes.
The album may feature Hoffer back with the band, but the usual dynamics are not really there. It's the band's so far most introspective and least energetic release, and I don't find that the songs have enough quality to equal the band's former releases. In fact, I find that Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied reminds me much of Here We Stand (Jun. 2008) as the band's lowest point. The acoustic versions don't raise the quality bar as such but they do demonstrate a certain authenticity of hidden potential in drafts to finished songs that could've been arranged in other ways. Track #11 "Moonshine" is not a song that appeals much to my taste but the acoustic version (track #18) just performs a lot better.
Not recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, NME, The Guardian 3 / 5 stars ]
