Mockingbird Time Rounder***

The opening chords of Hide Your Colourssound warmly familiar before the harmonies of Gary Louris and Mark Olson confirm it: The Jayhawks are back. So, then, all is well with the world as one of the signature sounds of alt.country recommence business after a long break with the 1995 line-up that produced the classic Tomorrow the Green Grass?Not quite. Mockingbird Timeis neither as good as diehards wished for nor as bad as naysayers forecast. There are 12 tracks, but the much-vaunted band reunion of songwriters-in- chief Olson and Louris (already rehearsed in their 2008 album Ready for the Flood) stumbles as they try to rediscover their synthesis of pop and country. There are flashes of it: Tiny Arrowsis a mighty effort, as is The Byrds-like She Walks in So Many Ways, but the overall impression is of a band struggling to reclaim greatness by revisiting pastures old.

See jayhawksofficial.com

Download tracks: She Walks In So Many Ways, Tiny Arrows