Herald rating: * *
(Mercury)
Review: Russell Baillie
'Tones No 2 are the outfit that proved a bit of a Britpop B-team on their 1998 debut Return to the Last Chance Saloon, but they leave an impression this time round. Not that the resulting album is anything that special, just an enjoyable
collection of sometimes crafty, frequently toe-tapping songs, some (opener Zorro) suggesting the wiry style of Supergrass/Suede, especially because Mark Morriss' pinched voice is pitched somewhere between fey and Finn. Which also means they can sound like mid-period Split Enz on The Last of The Great Navigators and that perhaps Neil's lawyers should be in touch about Mudslide.
A pointless instrumental midway undoes some of the good work, as do the smirking automotive double entendres in Autophilia. But it all ends variously warm and fuzzy, care of the skifflepop of Slack Jaw and the extended folky finale Emily's Pine.
