Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

You read about them a couple of issues back. This debut quickly establishes Smalltown Poets as one of THE alternative bands and this album as one of the best releases of 1997. An apt name for a band since lyrically there is indeed a great deal of poetry and deep thought. Clever lyrics and great music abound from the very start when "Prophet Priest And King" kicks in with some funny comments about writing to the President and Charles and Di and getting no response before pointing out that there is a king who always responds to us. There are some killer cuts here! The acoustic "If You'll Let Me Love You" is a gritty plea to a suffering brother asking to be allowed to care and "Everything I Hate" takes a fresh look at the struggles of Romans 7 with a more rock'n'roll approach! "Anymore" is more straight ahead rock grooviness and "Who You Are" is something special, a creative view of Jesus from the perspective of a shepherd present at his birth. "There's A Day" is a poetic picture projecting forwards to when with the end of the age, nature will have a new order. Overall. Smalltown Poets play with words and music sculpting new shapes, exploring issues from a new perspective, shining fresh insight and neither hiding it in a dense cloud of coded lyrics nor producing bland songs. Quite a balancing act but what more could you want from an alternative rock band'.' It takes a little work to get into but then it's nearly perfect!

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