The first album featured some truly great songs played by the band and stood on that alone – this, however, is a massive step further into 12 tracks where words such as “quality”, “exquisite” and “magical” form in your head with every song that goes by – in many ways it's the band going back to some roots, but the result is wider than the sea and higher than the sky......
The album opens with “Gimme Some Love” where, almost immediately, you find the sound of strings added to the bouncing rhythms that the band do so well with a neat swinging guitar rhythm and swaying melody line as singer Stuart Purvey comes in with a lightly echoed lead vocal as the song sounds light, airy, melodic and chunky at the same time, soaring through the verses with some lush multi-tracked backing vocals as the sinewy violin lead sways to and fro over that bouncing beat and the verses just flow so strongly into the high-flying chorus that's so full sounding but really expansive and it's really a solid slice of folk-pop done in contemporary indie fashion but unmistakably The Law at work and a highly enjoyable start to the album. “Holiday” starts with crisply strummed acoustic guitars, rippling piano and mandolin courtesy of guitarist and keyboardist Stevie Anderson, adds harmonica before Martin Donald on drums and Simon Donald on bass add another crunchy rhythm that drives ahead and Stuart delivers the verses with a pleading anguish as the lure of going away is revealed in the lyrics on what is a seriously well written song – as is every one of the songs on the album – and sails into the sunset of the choruses, again complete with backing vocals from Stevie and ex-Luva Anna lead singer Dave Webster who contributes backing vocals to most of the tracks on the album. The song is a jaunty arrangement performed seemingly effortlessly but so solid, guaranteeing a good time had by all who listen to it – and if you had to come up with some kind of reference it's like a Scottish Lindisfarne for a modern generation.
“All Over Your Mind” revolves instrumentally around this choppy almost native American drum rhythm from Martin Donald that's very Mick Fleetwood-esque while the melodies comes from cascading guitar figures, bottom-end bass and rippling guitar notes from Stevie, something that, instrumentally, you close your eyes and you're not far away from vintage Buckingham-era Fleetwood Mac, and I mean that kindly. However, what really puts it into a league of its own is Stuart's vocal as he sings with an almost initially languid quality, wide-eyed and magical, quickly soaring into the song's hook as the arrangement provides tension but never one that breaks loose, preferring to stay on a song that gets bigger and bigger the more it goes on, wordless backing vocals adding depth and burst of explosions marking the songs' other hook, the whole thing twisting and turning through an almost darkly atmospheric yet uplifting song that's really got you hooked by the time it ends.
“No Surprises” is a surprise as it sways along in an almost anthemic vein, sounding like some lost Lennon outtake set to a brassy arrangement, as the rich and strong, expansive and solid arrangement reveal a swagger of a song that simply can't fail to make you smile at the same time as it touches your heart, a huge sounding song with a superb guitar riff that courses through its veins, short but wondrously sweet. “The Moon Is All” decelerates the pace with another Lennon-esque vocal but this time set to a slowly flowing rhythm and a beautiful slide guitar but then along comes the heart of the song and it becomes something altogether more special as those all-important backing vocals add texture to the almost country-ish territory through which the blissful song is travelling, Stevie's lone guitar lead taking centre stage as the slowly moving and utterly exquisite song is simply beautiful. “My Lover” unusually fades in as the chorus leads into a huge instrumental opening, slide guitar to the fore over driving rhythms, a choppy organ riff that takes us into this really strong song with an initially soaring lead vocal which quickly gathers a massive expanse of backing vocals and lifts off into a huge chorus as the song has slight George Harrison tendencies, but then turns into this phenomenal song that's got more influences per second running through its veins than you could imagine, but is blessed with one of the finest, most expansive choruses around on what is an all-too short slice of absolute magic.
“7th Avenue” decelerates things once more to give us a really descriptive song that has you in Stuart's head and the feel is so full of yearning and memory, you could almost be with him. The backing has shimmering organ, brief flurrys of meaty sax, more swaying rhythms that the Donald's deliver so superbly, crisply strummed acoustic guitars and Stuart with an absolutely impassioned delivery where you feel every word. The sax break is magical, the chorus so emotional and the song a slowly flowing slice of gorgeousness. “Time By A Side” opens with acoustic guitars and vocals, immediately taking you into the rolling verses of the song as the Donald's deliver a solid backing and then the song flares up into a multi-vocal hook complete with superb sounding slide guitar and keys before it drops back to the main body of the song, only now with fast strummed electric guitar adding extra bite before we head off into more of those multi-harmony choruses, deeper than the ocean and wider than the sky, the hooks coming from the rhythms, the riff and the vocals, again short but immaculately executed.
“Paraglide” is the first time you feel that you've returned to the band that created the debut album as a Beatles-esque song rises up, but even here the amazing arrangement and production jobs that characterize this incredible album come into play and there's a fullness of sound that you just never experienced on the first album, on a song that substitutes feel, eloquence, texture and layers for mere band-played tightness, and the result is this huge-sounding song with Stuart's vocal fully emotive, the guitar work expansive, the keyboard adding an extra depth with another unforgettable chorus and a ballad driven by flowing rhythms that's just gorgeous. “Letter” starts with bluesy guitar notes backed by a river of distant organ as the chime of the lead guitar rings out, the drums come in slowly and there's a deep bass undercurrent as it all moves deftly into view, the slowest intro so far. Above this Stuart soars sweetly and strongly through a song that shows he can mix blues, ballad and pop with excellence of emotional execution, while Stevie's blues guitar is the monument of “less is more” on as slowly played notes capture your heart and this is The Law doing blues that you never thought you'd hear but which sounds so natural and a thing of great beauty in their hands.
“Shadow(It Isn't Me)” provides us with a rousing track that's perfectly placed after the laziness of what's just preceded it and the strongly bouncing, crunching rhythms underpin this marching anthem of a track that really cuts loose complete with harmonica wailing, searing slide guitar, solid piano, sky-high lead and harmony vocals and a song that lifts you into sunny skies and days that make you feel glad to be alive, once again the multi-tracked, multi-vocal harmonies a major factor in the song's expanse and epic sound, as it all drives forward ona trail of mighty verses and meaty choruses. The album ends on the title track and here they mix much of what's come before in a deliberate swagger of a song that's got drive and drama as it gradually intensifies the verses to huge choruses, Stevie's slide guitar once gain shining out above the sax and cornet backdrops, the rhythms the backbone that propel the song as the sheer attention to detail takes what's essentially a mix of contemporary indie, country-tinged pop, bluesy-sway and impassioned singing into another dimension altogether.
So, there you have it – it's an album without a fault – one that has five decades of influence running through its veins yet comes out as something wholly fresh, memorable, exciting, heart-warming and enjoyable. The sheer quality of performance, writing, production, arranging and playing simply shines out of every track and although it's got a heart of folk, a modern body and a head in some truly glorious songwriting clouds, it's solid, tight, flows and wastes not one second on anything a song doesn't require, yet features all the elements that it does – in short, stunning!