COLIN HAY – AMERICAN SUNSHINE

So a pasty ex-pat Scotsman penned the great Aussie anthem (Vegemite included – do you think he might have a go at branding the “new Vegemite?), so what? Now more native to California than Sydney or Melbourne, Colin Hay has continued to produce quality albums since the demise of Men at Work, albeit to a much smaller, more select audience. True to his chameleon nature, Hay is now in distinctly Americana mode, and American Sunshine is more American country than western. It is probably no coincidence, for a man who has moved about as Hay has, that his songs are about the joys of human connections; making them, breaking them and missing them. If you can forgive the albums closing instrumental – one that embodies all that is bad about AOR indulgence – then there are plenty of Hay’s melodic hooks and jaunty rhythms that are remarkably familiar and easily enjoyed. And the second to last track Please To Almost Meet You rocks in the best of bar-room ways, with an almost Richards-like swagger that could easily be a hit with half and ounce of fortune. Please to hear you Mr Hay.

*** 1/2