I said when I started this that there would be no bad reviews, they are all records in my collection ergo I like them. But, there will inevitably be some like this, albums where I don’t like this one as much as others by the same band.

“Blind Man’s Zoo” is the Maniacs 4th album, the 2nd produced by Peter Asher (he of Peter & Gordon and brother to McCartney’s former squeeze Jane) and a million seller in the US.

All the components are there. The songs are good (but not great), the playing is good but to my ears it lacks something following on from “In My Tribe”. It’s not as confident, almost as though it’s being apologetic for not being “In My Tribe”. If this had been their 3rd album and “In My Tribe” the 4th it would make perfect sense but as a follow up it feels like a regression.

Standout track(s), it's difficult to choose between them, would be “Eat For Two”, the story of a teenage girl coming to the realisation she is 5 months pregnant, and “Trouble Me”, a song about Natalie Merchant’s father. Everything else is much of a muchness.

Eat For Two - https://youtu.be/le9RHVrlWlk

Trouble Me - https://youtu.be/DPcK0sU3jEw