With sensitive, almost unbelievably raspy vocals and a power blues/classic rock band of players behind him, Forsey croons, belts, and bangs his way into your living room with this eleven song offering of retro blues/rock. I'm ready to sit back, close my eyes and pretend that this album came out in 1976. Don't know where that puts it in today's vomitorium of what's hip, but it sure is authentic. Lemme talk about it...

As I said, the first track, "Spare a Little Sympathy" is as good as any opener and sets the stage for what's to come with clean production and strong musicianship. Next is "Off and Running", a tender ballad about coming of age, nicely instrumented as well.

Tom lists Bryan Adams as one of his inspirations and it¹s never more evident than in "Glad With You", a tongue-in-cheek rocker dedicated to a seemingly newly successful backwards hick. Mixed messages convey how many of us feel about other people¹s happiness. After about the fourth track, things get a little sleepy but still nice songs well-played. Messages seem to come mostly from the heart, as in "Pray For the Fields", a lament for a lost childhood playing ground, and "Lucky to Be", the plodding closer with the Buddhist twist.

I'm diggin' the vibe here for the most part. Now for my druthers..."Then I Knew", a careful love song dedicated to the missus is as personal as it is self-indulgent and sluggish. God knows we've all gone to that peak and thrown ourselves into the abyss if we've loved and lived to write songs about it, but a few minutes shyer of 6:46 would ease us armchair romancers back into the comfort zone when crossing it in a public collection such as this. "Beltway Blues" is clever, uptempo, and (duh) bluesy but just gives me anxiety. If I were listening to this while stuck in traffic I'm not sure that it wouldn¹t induce panic or bring out the road rage dragon lying dormant in me up to now. Think James Taylor's "Damn This Traffic Jam", but somehow not as effective.

Forsey's artwork is slick and big time lookin' - a six-page booklet included in digipakaging rife with photos of the artist hangin' out in rustic surroundings - I'm led to believe that Tom spends a lot of time in deep thought as he feeds the chickens and walks into town for supplies, and the lyrics do not vary from that image. This artist appears to be easing into his present while paying tribute to a lot of his past worth holding onto. If I could "Forsey" the future, I'd say that Tom is in it for the long tractor haul. Ooh, that's enough, Austin...