Fused soul and blues, beautiful tone in the vocal, even in its rough textures, and guitar lines that tag those sung lines. That’s the first track Working For You. Then it’s soul-skewed again for next It’s Spiritual, old-soul, an echo of Otis Redding in the making of it, somewhere, not intruding. Third Every Night Every Day is a bluesy shouted staccato diatribe, more pain than anger, Things gonna come my way familiarly the forlorn hope. Bus Station seems a different performer, but it’s a lonely place so in good company as far as subject matter, and not about vehicles at all. Fifth The Island as beautiful ballad is more in tune as surprise, soulful vocal in a gentle, unhurried melody, the subject of a mother-in-law seemingly anachronistic, though the darling wife is also included, thank goodness. The excellence continues. Seventh Deep Water is light blues stomp, slide guitar, deep resonating vocal. Eighth Just One Night could be another sixties popsoul obscurity from that time, unearthed, presented now. Penultimate Slippin’ with pinched guitar notes is all vocal and that’s superb enough, simple up and down melody made good by the continuing resonance and emotive growl that rises to a peak here, before the pinched notes draw to a close. Closer Terrible Years is old-blues, thump thumping under more slide. Sweany is self-effacing facing away on the album cover but we know it is him and guitar, and it's listening rather than looking conveys the sustained excellence.
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