After a few years spent honing their talents in the fields of new-wave and post-punk, 1986's 'Skylarking' documents their progress to that sense of pastoral Englishness which seemed to attract more interest abroad than on their own shores. A great shame for their compatriots who haven't cocked an ear to this work because this album works on so many levels from beginning to end. Firstly, there's nostalgic whimsy in the form of 'Grass' and 'The Meeting Place', glorious, technicolour pop with addictive choruses in the shape of 'That's Really Super, Supergirl' and 'Ballet For A Rainy Day'. The considerably darker second half of the record is not without its moments either including the cynical wedding song 'Big Day' and its line of 'There's a lesson to be learnt, many fingers have been burnt with the touch of gold' and the minimalist approach to 'Another Satellite'. Perhaps lacking a killer track to make it a classic album like The Zombies' 'Oracle and Odessey' or 'Sgt. Peppers...', 'Skylarking' is an ideal companion for those great works with its bagful of tunes and encapsulation of 60's psychedelia.