Delta have been around for at least 7 years but had never released an album until now. This isn't the actual album proper but a collection of unreleased demo stuff and a few b-side tracks. I'm familiar with the songs that have already been released on b-sides but I was never lucky enough to have heard any demos by Delta so the majority of this is new to me. When I saw Delta live a couple of months ago I found that they just didn't sound the same now that they've lost their lead guitarist, Robert. But the songs here were recorded when he was still in the band, and as a result this album is certainly as superb as the earlier releases. The sleeve notes describe the songs as 'lost classics' and that is so true - songs such as Clever Girl, Delivered, Silly World, and most of all Tight, really are perfect; in fact the whole album is totally excellent. Why, though, did they call it Laughing Mostly, but didn't include the song of the same name on it?

Dishy Recordings, 74 Gibson Gardens, London N16 7HD.

Footnote: Since writing this, I heard from Guy at Dishy, who informed me that the song Laughing Mostly didn't appear on the album due to a lost master tape. A terrible shame - I only ever heard them play that song live, it would have been great to hear a studio version of it.