release date: Jun. 10, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,44]
producer: The Blue Nile
label: Warner Bros. - nationality: Scotland, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Happiness" - 2. "Tomorrow Morning" (4 / 5 ) - 4. "Love Came Down" (4 / 5) - 5. "Body and Soul" (live on Later) - 7. "Family Life" (4 / 5) (live) - 9. "God Bless You Kid" (live)
3rd studio album by The Blue Nile released 7 years succeeding the great second album, Hats.
The trio produced two fantastic albums and then they made the audience wait another seven years! The end result doesn't live up the band's previous high standards, and the album is their most 'clean' pop album and as such not really all that great. Gone are the dominating 'synths' and instead it contains tracks with acoustic guitar and gospel choir. Their previous albums had been released on the small independent Scottish label Linn Records but here the band has signed with Warner Bros. Perhaps the record company had a say in making the sound more mainstream? At least that's what I told myself when trying to come to terms with the new style. The album is not bad - it contains at least three great compositions but it has left room for songs of lesser quality, but as mainstream pop, it's better than most albums from 1996.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5, Q Magazine 5 / 5 ]
