It may be hard to fathom but some of the sweetest soul sounds of the early 80's originated from the West Midlands. Admittedly, their roots were in black America, but Kevin Rowland's scruffy mob managed to convey genuine feelings of joy and sadness with some aplomb. This was due to many factors, Rowland's voice sounded so heartbroken he could have been in tears whilst the brass section supporting him always produced warmth and character so much so that they managed to pull off an instrumental as good as 'The Teams That Meet In Caffs' without resorting to self indulgence or mere copying. Of course, the songs themselves were memorable and have aged well over the 20 years since the album's original release. The vigour and energy that clearly went into tunes of the quality of 'Geno' (a number 1 hit in the UK), 'Seven Days Too Long', 'Burn It Down', 'Keep It' and 'Tell Me When My Light Turns Green' in particular prove that UK music in the 80s wasn't all about miserablism and machines.