I like album and artist selections that I've not heard of before, and this one was certainly one of them.
The bonus was having to listen through YouTube for this (not on Spotify in the US), which made me enjoy "Something On My Mind" even more with the footage. I swear if I just picked this album up, had it played from the beginning, and then asked, "name that year?", I'd have answered with something out of early 60's, so this definitely captured the spirit of their inspirations. The trumpet and flutes even fit the genre and mood, so the feeling they were going for was successfully met.
When hearing "Unless", in the beginning I was even hearing a cross between of "Mad World" from Tears For Fears and a bit of OMD, which wasn't a bad thing (check it out 2 minutes in).
Once "Natural" plays at track 5 with its guitars led sound, I'm feeling the Joe Jackson-ish mid 80s post punk/new wave sound of the time, and this track is one I'm quite fond of. If you slipped this one in amongst the Screaming Blue Messiah's tracks from three weeks ago, I might have been fooled in telling who was who in each.
"Faithful Pillow (Pt. 1)" is a great acoustic piece with nice defined beat and a strong trumpet sound that comes in towards the end. It sounds like a great piece that would work well in any movie showing a leisurely drive across the landscape.
"You'll Start a War" is another catchy number that I see was its own single and had a nice b&w video to accompany it. Strong in vocals, the guitars are of its time and the trumpet adds in nicely.
Back to the 60's for another b&w video for "Beyond Friday's Field". "Abergele Next Time" adds in the piano with the usual instruments, and it works well. "Crazier" gives us a video in technicolor, straight from the 1958 Newport Jazz festival movie. Keen eyes might even swear the boat was seen in the Gilligan's Island theme song on a three hour tour, but that might be a stretch. That's just what came to my mind when watching it.
"Faithful Pillow (Pt. 2)" has the same feel of Pt. 1 but uses the cello as its intro, and again, I don't mind hearing a good song again, here as the closer.
I can appreciate these songs for what they are in the light and breezy pop sound they attempt to capture. On it's own, this is probably a 6 for me, but I'm giving a point back to anything from Liverpool after this past Sunday because I'm still grateful, so it's 7/10 for me overall in probably liking these tracks more than I'd admit.
(the "From Across The Kitchen Table" video from their 2nd album just played after this one ended, and I quite liked that too. Another humorous b&w UK video to set the mood)