I approached this CD with mixed feelings; on the one hand I've been a huge fan of Delta since the year dot and they'd never released a song I didn't like, but on the other hand I saw them live the back end of 1999, the first time I'd seen them in a few years, and found that their sound had changed and I wasn't too keen. I also discovered that they had dispensed with their lead guitarist, Robert Cooksey, who I had a lot of respect for. Even though I thought the stuff they were playing that night was a touch too tame and more mainstreamish than the old stuff, plus the lyrics of one of the songs (Elephant Man, which appears on this album) were plain embarrassing, I thought I'd still buy this album - as I've liked everything they'd released previously there was still a chance I'd like this. In fact I'm glad I bought it, it's surprisingly good, and there are still shades of the old band in their sound (although this is a lot less 'rock' and is more mid 60s sounding than early 70s. In fact I'm surprised at how 60s this sounds, as when I saw them live last, I didn't associate their music with any particular era).

This is a very ambitious album, complete with a 19 piece orchestra (!) and it makes the likes of first single Sugared-Up sound virtually like it was recorded on a Walkman. Before I heard the album I was aware it had an orchestra on it, and heard someone else's opinion that it sounded too slick, so I thought maybe Delta were heading towards boring easy listening territory and/or the fancy production wouldn't do the songs any favours, but on listening to the album I can say that the orchestral arrangements actually work well. The most surprising thing about this album is the uncredited bonus track which is a classical piece! I kid you not! Keyboard player Louis J Clark (who is a relatively new recruit) must be from a classical background as he was responsible for the orchestral arrangements, the Extract from Symphony No 1 that appears at the end of Bra, and I guess this full length classical piece too. As well as having an actual classical influence, this orchestral music puts me in mind of soundtracks from old epic movies.

On the downside, some of the lyrics on this album leave a lot to be desired and make me think they could be running out of ideas. The lyrics of Elephant Man make me cringe, and one of the other songs, We Come Back, has the line "I'll see you out later, I'll bring my calculator...". They'd never have come up with words like this a few years ago. It's a shame that some of the lyrics seem a bit nonsensical and just there because they rhyme, because the melodies are actually very good. Another thing that's changed with this band is this - in the past they sounded late 60s/early 70s-ish but despite this, it wasn't easy to pinpoint any obvious influences. On this new album there's the song Cuckoo which sounds very Beatles-esque. This is the first time I've heard a song by Delta that reminds me of another band. And another thing - someone who knows the band wrote to me saying Robert had to go because he was holding them back, and their spirits had raised considerably since he left. I wouldn't like to say how true this is, but one thing's for sure, their new material is a lot less gloomy-sounding than many of their earlier songs. Whether this has anything to do with Robert leaving, who knows?

Despite the changes and the occasional slightly dodgy lyric, I like this album a lot more than I thought I would. Songs such as Color Madre and Everybody are particularly great. They haven't lost me as a fan after all.

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