No less than 13 (!?) years upon 1995’s Inside, one of Sweden’s finest export items is back on the scene with another 30+ minutes of contemporary power-pop jangle, very much indebted to the mid-to-end’60s legacy. After a couple of listens, I come to realize that there’s no use trying to decide which one is better. A combination of the two would’ve made an almost faultless set, though both of them contain a handful of reasons to be regarded as a classic of the genre itself.
There’s nothing to be surprised about here (except maybe the fact that the guys still got it after all these years!), because all the usual ingredients are on display, with the best examples being the moderndaze Merseybeat-by-way-of-Elvis-Costello of There Will Be A Time, the mid’60s-garage-punk-put-through-the-power-pop-lenses in The Re-Creation Song, or the folk-rocking vibe of Cold Rain, which is kinda like The Byrds covering Dylan, while fronted by Lennon, who throws in enough of his own self as well. Hope it doesn’t take this long before the next one.
[Released by Sound Asleep 2008]
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