Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

A Cat Called Africa are a three-piece New Zealand band mainly performing songs that mix acoustic sensibilities with plaintive vocals. The opening cuts on the CD blast a way forward and these are characteristically the most uptempo songs here, though they maintain at their foundation a rootsy pop approach. The opening "Fiery Mountain" is the most attention-grabbing track on the album, although with the approaching millennium, perhaps "New Years Resolution" should be spinning on your CD player in these days! The enigmatically titled "Brain Garden" is a chunky acoustic number with one of those catchy choruses. Sometimes on the slower stuff, singer Edwin Derricutt's can most politely be described as "interesting" as he wraps his tonsils round some of this stuff, but generally the band are tightly packed together guiding songs through peaks and troughs that grab the listener.

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