Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Time can never be held back, save placing your own stamp upon your time upon the dust and mud, Time is the raptor that gnaws at your fingers and your memories to the point in which the clock, the love child of Time and regulated humanity, governs and snarls in perpetual motion. The only way to have an equal say in this one sided partnership, the only way to not let the seconds and hours dominate your day is to Smash The Clock, tear it down and put your own rules down, to live life to the limit that your heart will take and make it loud and meaningful.

It is to the meaningful that Bruce Foxton delivers his latest album with, that the significance of his actions and telling weight of lyric and adjoining music, are to Time as land is to water, the crashing of the tidal waves battering the inland recluse not even a bother to those that live there if their defences are well preserved and they are willing to toil to keep it dry and useable.

The From the Jam musician, one of the true and great gentlemen of his time, takes Time and spanks it, then with the swiftness of a guitar at his side, hurls all his available arsenal at the clock and leaves splinters and numbers croaking in their passing; the second hand dying with an absurd look upon its face.

Smash The Clock follows the groove, the steady beat that has served Bruce Foxton well down the years, it is as steady as a beating heart in love and his lyrics, whilst perhaps criminally undervalued by some, have always carried huge appeal, they might not sing with the young fascination supplied by Paul Weller but they are more hardy, more insightful, more resistant to change and ultimately lead the listener in a different direction of thought. In Smash The Clock that holds fast and true and is the epitome of the music on offer.

In tracks such as Round & Round, the excellent Sunday Morning, Writing On The Wall and Running Away From You, Bruce Foxton, Russell Hastings and some very special guests take the listener down the path of memory, of particular times that we all share and in which the insight of the man holds fast. It is a pleasure to hear such reminisces made lyrical and expressive and there is no doubting the satisfaction in the sound that comes across.

A hero’s welcome is always assured Bruce Foxton, Smash The Clock affords more time to the act of holding back the hands and allowing the music to seep into the veins and have the listener smile with contentment.

Ian D. Hall