It's true enough that The Spirit Cage is more of the same from middle-aged
Newell. But sometimes more of the same is good, and sometimes -- not that often, actually -- middle-aged is not synonymous with artistic decline or burnout. On this album, he offers a dozen perky, melodic songs that are witty without playing for laughs. It's not as lo-fi as his numerous cassette-only releases, but it's not overly slick either, and quite heavy on the jangly reverb guitar that he uses well. Songwise, it sounds like it could have just as well been written and recorded by him in 1987 or 1995 as 2000, but there is a somewhat more low-key and less sardonic vibe than he's flashed at some points in the past. If you're looking for slight deviations from his standard melodic guitar pop, "Sugarcane" has a Spanish-Mediterranean feel to the guitars and rhythms, and there are a couple of piano-dominated ballads (at which his occasional resemblance to
Elvis Costello becomes more prominent). "My Old School" revisits familiar
Newell Brit-pop territory with its bouncy yet bittersweet nostalgia. Less successfully, "Days Like These" gets into a rustic blues-folk mode, recalling all those '70s records when various past and present
Faces/Small Faces would go acoustic. That track isn't downright bad, though, and the album is pretty consistent melodic, thoughtful pop/rock. ~ Richie Unterberger