Released on 08/01/2001
Label: East West

When he isn't making self-indulgent movies about sports cars, Chris Rea is capable of penning fine bluesy rock tunes. The Middlesborough man has even, twenty years into his career, found new credibility with Ibiza DJ's remixing his tracks for the dancefloor - see last summer's chill-out anthem 'All Summer Long', remixed by Pippi and Jose, York's remix of 'On The Beach' and Paul Oakenfold's rendition of 'Josephine'.

Late last year the hip 49-year-old returned with 'King Of The Beach', an album which many reckon to be his best since 1989's 'The Road To Hell'. And this is the second single from it. A slow-building, dark and melancholy sigh of a song with shades of Dire Straits and Pink Floyd, some eerie piano and Rea's trademark gruff vocal barely rising above a whisper.

Not the most eventful of singles certainly but it captures a mood.

    by Gary Crossing