Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

What was once familiar will always come round again, only this time with an edge to it that will the reminisces feeling overwhelmed, and the new sound embracing the time-honoured as if it was a frequent visitor that had all the answers to the questions being asked.

From The Jam to working alongside a captivating frontman. This is establishment of the genius that Bruce Foxton has come to signify, and in his partnership with Russell Hastings has flourished accordingly, and the strength of their time together on stage has only enhanced what is evident in their new album, The Butterfly Effect.

This is more than an album full of tracks and songs, this is a series of signposts that lead the way through uncomfortable storms and bright futures, a signpost that has moved with the times of the modern world, and yet acknowledges without hesitation or reluctance the beauty and fascination to be found in previous, more heady times.

You may believe you have seen the signpost before, indeed Bruce Foxton planted many along the roadside alongside Paul Weller and Rick Buckler in which others have followed with interest, intensity, and belief, and yet the familiar is often an illusion, and what stands in its place is now a marker of intent, of will, and throughout it is one that all can follow with a knowing smile.

Whether in the opener of Electronic Lover, the outstanding Lula, Wanted, Too Old To Cry, Too Young to Die, Anything You Want, and Walking With Me, the intensity and delight of the two men in both their personal and working arrangement is one of gratifying persuasion, and with huge contributions from Tony ‘Rico’ Richardson on saxophone, Nicky Madern, and Mark Randon, the album is a voice for a disjointed generation that wants, implores once more a unity, a voice that is strong, willing, and backed up by a maestro of the arts.

Bruce Foxton and Russell Hastings, a pairing that defies the time between, a recognised brilliance that in every way possible is captured eternally thanks to the wings of The Butterfly Effect.

Ian D. Hall