Think about the world I found spinning awry

Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats (2015) ***

Nominated by: Biggy Gee Dawg

Music club: Wander to Wozza's Music Club

Playlist addition:  Wasting time

You can't judge a record by the cover. I get that, but I'm not sure what the marketing team were aiming for with that terrible cover. Ricco Suave lounge lizard anyone?

The trick of not including your name on the cover has increased markedly since the days of Abbey Road, Music From Big Pink and Blonde On Blonde, but really - you need to be pretty iconic to get away with it successfully. Nathaniel Rateliff though? What's 'e playing at, eh?

Doh - I've just noticed his name in faint colours at the top of the cover - never noticed it the first few times I looked at it so my point (almost) holds - smiley face.

And the band's name! The Night Sweats? Whaaaat? Again - not drawn to that brand particularly. Surely a joke (I know - don't call you 'surely').

So I was a bit put off before putting the needle down (I didn't really put the needle down - it's on Spotify - so that doesn't help either).

Back in the day, records (yes - records) used to be events. We saved and saved and eventually bought a single. Now I can click a button and whole discographies are within easy reach. Bah humbuck. More is not more!!

But I digress. A lot. The music of Mr Rateliff is what I'm supposed to be listening to so I'll (attempt to) shake off the unfortunate cover, the unfortunate name and the less than ideal format.

The first track is a bit deceptive - are The Night Sweats a Blues Brothers/ Van Morrison style show band, I wondered. Cool. I'm partial to Blues Brothers/ Van Morrison style show bands. But then the song changes tack abruptly when Nat starts singing. Weirdly the momentum built by the opening disappears until the drums kick back in and then stops again. And then starts again. Yikes man!! This is the opening song! Keep that momentum going fer Pete's sake.

After that it took time for the album's riches to come to the fore. I heard some Mumford and Sons-isms (okay), a lot of Springsteen Seeger Session bar band rowdiness (meh), and some Bragg/Wilco mash ups (Mermaid Avenue style) in these grooves (if it had grooves yunnerstan). This is clearly stuff that's right down GK's alley!

Best tracks for me were when he dialed it back on Wasting Time, I'll Be Waiting, Mellow Out with some nice pedal steel, acoustic guitar and some expressive vocals.

So - all up, it's another three stars from me - for a mostly fine set of songs, but I suspect he has more laid back folky albums in his canon that I'd enjoy more.