WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

Tracklist: Hey Saint Jude; Intruder; Oh No You Don’t; Lost Time; Jump In; Giddy In A Good Way; Cut Me Dead; Cast A Stone; Pretenders; Paper Planes; Leaving The Scene; Pollyanna Says

Same Sun/Same Sky is the 1st new album for 34 years by The Darling Buds and it draws on the best of the many styles of the band’s 1st trio of LPs to underline why they were so underrated.

• Read on for reasons including if you’ve ever loved the band, Same Sun/Same Sky should definitely shine for you

What we loved about the band’s sound was its route-1, often carefree pop chanelling influences as diverse as Blondie, The Beatles and The Monkees producing joyous, tambourine-waving indie tunes we revelled in seeing them at venues including London’s ULU, Reading’s Majestic Ballroom and Windsor Old Trout while contemporaries including Transvision Vamp also dominated Top Of The Pops.

You might remember a Top Of The Pops appearance for Hit The Ground or Burst as a Chart Show favourite from 1989 debut Pop Said but follow ups Crawdaddy and Erotica gained less success for the Buds, who’d formed in Caerleon near Newport, South Wales, in 1986.

Most successful here is the midpaced single Lost Time (watch and listen below) which has lead singer Andrea Lewis Jarvis wondering wistfully where the missing years went.

Opener Hey Saint Jude (listen below) sounds immediately like Oasis crossed with the Stone Roses with its muscular guitars glamourising, perhaps ironically, the patron saint of lost causes while 1st single from this collection Intruder (listen far below) is more awkward, dark and interesting than the material of this band’s that we most love.

But it’s not just the singles that should whet your appetite – Oh No You Don’t is the big potential hit here and boasts the frenetic drums of the Buds’ beloved Burst, B52s’ guitars, Stone Roses bass and Boo Radleys horns.

Later on Cut Me Dead ploughs a similar pop furrow with gorgeous soaring backing vocals and there’s so much here it almost justifies the 34-year wait.

Singles Burst and Hit The Ground may have very much been our sounds of 1988/89 but we’ve seen them live in London decades later and before writing this blog at The Borderline and The Lexington and their live proposition is much stronger now.

Material from Same Sun/Same Sky is so strong it’s definitely going to be jockeying for a setlist position as the band goes back on the road to tour this collection throughout the rest of the year.

We can’t wait to join them and if you’ve ever loved the band, Same Sun/Same Sky should definitely shine for you.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy The Darling Buds Tickets
• Have you seen The Darling Buds before and what did you think of them? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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