Hi, Texas' New Release

It may be pure coincidence that Texas’s first album in four years shares its name with a revered Memphis record label, but there’s no denying the smooth grooves of Willie Mitchell and Al Green is a template for several cuts here (“You Can Call Me”, “Unbelievable”). It’s perhaps expected, as Sharleen Spiteri and bassist co-writer Johnny McElhone say much of the material is based on revisited sketches unused from 1997’s multi-platinum, soulful White On Blonde, although “Just Want To Be Liked” follows a more cinematic, mariachi-flavoured country cantina path, and the Wu-Tang Clan collaboration title track unashamedly lunges at a pop jugular.

TERRY STAUNTON