Comments:

One can hardly that the group has musically moved significantly over the past 15-20 years; despite several replacements in the line-up. There has been a bit longer between new releases in recent years but it is still Gerard Langley who with his spoken lead vocals and special lyrics who draws the group. Another distinctive feature that has been maintained throughout are the fine guitarists who have gone in and out of the group. But right from the beginning, the group have emphasized that on albums there should be well-sounding crisp guitars on at least some of the tracks. Conversely, there has also always been room for the more experimental and quirky.

All these things can be found on “Welcome Stranger”. My favorite on the album is the melodic power-pop rocker, "Sweet Like Chocolate" with strong Langley lead vocals with nice female vocals. Irresistibly catchy and in fact the only non-original TBA on "Welcome Stranger". It is by far the best version of this number I have heard.

The group has never had big problems writing new fine original songs. "Nothing Will Ever Happen in the Future" and "Here is the Heart of All Wild Things" are the group at their very best. The former is a melodic rocker with catchy chorus featuring rare strings. The track is with 6 minutes one of the longest on the album and it is written by Langley with guitarist Bec Jevons. "Here is the Heart of All Wild Things" is a light folkish rocker with light crisp guitars with fine vocal harmonies and some fine breaks. This time written with another of the group's three guitarists, Gerard Starkie. The group's third guitarist, Mike Youé, also contributes diligently to the songwriting with the fine "Retro Moon" as the best contribution.

Great that this overlooked band still offer great new music