What rhymes with old friends and second thoughts? It’s a question a songwriter only gets to consider at a certain point on the road and if you recall Tim Rogers’ classic solo debut of ‘99, you know it’s a long one.
Tines of Stars Unfurled is a bookend to What Rhymes With Cars and Girls in all kinds of ways, not least the welcome return of his fiddle-and-squeezebox country-blues compadres The Twin Set, and the (slightly more temperate) barstool yarn-spinner’s perspective that made the You Am I frontman ARIA’s Best Male Artist 23 years ago.
That’s long enough to bring new poetry, wit and wisdom to the rock’n’roll philosopher’s kitbag as 11 new songs hold hands with their precursors across the chasm of innocence and experience. Kids grow up, adults split up, parents pass on, some nights look better in than out and somehow, the songs keep getting better.
Like the first single says, Been So Good, Been So Far. “Guess I’m doing OK. How about you?”