Paul Haig follows up his last album Come Out Tonight a mere eighteen months later. And as many reviews have attested, it’s an absolutely brilliant record. Whilst I enjoyed Go Out Tonight very much, this is an excellent album that outclasses its’ predecessor.
Much of the work that Mr. Haig has produced since Josef K split in the early 1980s has been electronic based, rather than guitar based. Interviewing him recently, he acknowledged that this is more guitar heavy, and it shows that he is still a fantastic songwriter. Having come out of the same early eighties scene in Edinburgh that was also host to the likes of the Scars, The Fire Engines and The Associates, it’s good to see that following on from Malcolm Ross’s critically acclaimed collaboration with The Low Miffs, his former bandmate is also showing the young ‘uns just how it’s done.
Because right from the opening ‘Trip Out The Rider,’ a song that sounds like he’s banged together the collective heads of Franz Ferdinand and Girls Aloud, this album commands your attention. The title track’s brief electronic introduction makes way for song that has as much punch and swagger as John Wayne swaggering into town. There’s a rock aspect here to his work that might have been downplayed on some of his earlier work, but comes to the fore here, all on his own terms. The only possible weak track is ‘Listen To Me’ but overall this album is a thoroughly warm listen, demonstrating that when names like Collins, Henderson and Frame are dropped into the conversation, so should that of Mr. Haig.
