OK, I caved and just listened to the album. Initial thoughts after a first listen:
BORDER REIVER: Well, at least it's upbeat. But to be honest, I'm not a big fan of this "fiddle-dee-diddle" Celtic rock thing. Maybe it's because I'm Scottish, we have some truly, truy awful Scottish bands like Runrig and Wolfsbane that play this kind of stuff and I've spent most of my life trying to avoid them. So it's not one of my favourites. The actual song is pretty good I think, I just don't really like the accordian/fiddle bits inbetween verses.
HARD SHOULDER: Nice track. Verty atmospheric, sounds like an old 60s/70s Glenn Campbell track, I was thinking of Witchita Lineman or something like that.
YOU CAN'T BEAT THE HOUSE: Quite a departure from MK, surely the closest we've come to blues from him and great to prove that he can indeed play the blues. Great licks, I wonder if this is the Grosh on this track? I'm thinking P90s anyway.
BEFORE GAS & TV: Another nice folky tune, the Les Paul works well here.
MONTELEONE: Sounds fantastic. For the first minute or so the hairs were standing up on the back of neck and I could feel tears welling up, just because it sounded so beautiful. I found myself thinking "Why are people comparing this to Heart Full of Holes, it's very different". Then I got to THAT line. One line of melody and chord changes that is almost identical to Heart Full of Holes. Very strange. I mean, it's MK's song, so he can duplicate it if he wants I guess, but it seems bizarre to do it on the next album. Kind of threw me, I was really enjoying the song up to that point.
CLEANING MY GUN: Only listened once so far, but could this be my favourite? Great upbeat country rocker. Before I listened I was wondering where Richard Bennett's 12-string Burns would come and I'm pretty sure it's on this track.
THE CAR WAS THE ONE: KTGC style track. Nothing remarkable on first listen. OK though.
REMEMBRANCE DAY: Nice tune.
GET LUCKY: We know this one. Great tune, I'm starting to get used to the whistle where the guitar solo should be.
SO FAR FROM THE CLYDE: Nice Les Paul work on here. Folky feel, but not overpowered by the folk instruments like, say, Border Reiver or Secondary Waltz.
PIPER TO THE END: Another nice tune. Reminds me a bit of Lily of the West.
Overall, I like it after first listen. But I need to listen to it another 20 times or so to see if the songs get under my skin or not. It's not as folky as I thought it would be, which is good, some other styles in there too.
