Available now from Right Track Records and Universal (iTunes/Amazon), ‘Restless Years’ is the new album from Leo Sayer. If you’re wondering where you’ve heard the name before, it’s probably because he’s the writer of ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing’ and ‘Thunder In My Heart’, just two of the hits that made him a household name.
In spite of his huge success, Sayer has recently been flying under the radar. It turns out that, in his absence, he was crafting this exquisite new album.
Clocking up 13 tracks of real class, ‘Restless Years’ is a great blend of acoustic, rootsy pop with buckets of charm. Eased in gently by the mid-tempo acoustic pop of ‘Beautiful Years’, the album slowly ramps up from there. It travels via the upbeat look back on life ‘How Did We Get So Old’, the country blues of title track ‘Restless Years’ and the deceptive simplicity of ‘Revolution of the Heart’, before arriving at something of a climax in ‘The Wrong Man’. Peaking here, it then slowly turns and ambles back towards its mellow conclusion with ‘Mister In Between’.
In ramping up to a crescendo and then backing off, the album has a real sense of movement and journey to it, proving that the song selection was spot on. If there is one part of the album I could do without it would be the earnest spoken sections. Even when the sung lyrics are mildly corny, Sayer’s vocal and charm sees them through. However, spoken cock-er-ney sections jar with everything else.
