Ten years after
Cast faded away in the wake of their fourth album, Beetroot, the Liverpudlian quartet reunited in 2011 for
Troubled Times. Like their 1995 debut,
All Change, producer John Leckie manned the decks for
Troubled Times, and that's hardly where the similarities end: apart from the spacy soul verses of "Brother Fighting Brother," the album is cut from the same cloth as
All Change -- it's all cheerful, tuneful Merseybeat.
John Power may not have much spark but he is a diligent craftsman, capable of constructing a sturdy tune and delivering it without fuss. It's workingman's pop: there's no flair, nothing flashy, but it gets the job done. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine