Reviewed by Stuart Blackburn

‘Living Room’ is lyrically and musically pleasant and as sincere as it gets. In order to modernise his sound Wayne has used one son to produce and another to co-write on two tracks. He has not been entirely successful. Some of the programming and arranging is stodgy and does nothing to lift Wayne’s often melodramatic vocal style. The worst moment is as the synth strings reach their crescendo on “Dreaming Again” - someone please wake me up! More encouragingly, “Something’s Gonna Humble You” has a funky groove though it sounds familiar. “Somebody Sing” and “Climb On Up” rock but the band lack drive and fail to convince entirely. In spite of Wayne’s efforts much of this is rather predictable with a dated ’80s feel. Completists will buy, enticed by a bonus CD with four acoustic tracks from the ’80s and ’90s.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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