After the "hold my joint" soft soap of Kaya, we are very much back in the political world with Survival. It is absolutely incredible to think that the song Zimbabwe was actually written and recorded before Rhodesia changed its name. History in the making, for better or worse.

Another album without (to me) any obvious hits. It's amazing to think that Legend ended up being one of the most popular albums of all time when the source material seems so scattered throughout the catalogue - compare and contrast to, say, Oasis, whose greatest hits would essentially be the singles from the first three albums plus one or two other tracks. It seems like an odd comparison, but perhaps there's a Beautiful South analogy here -a band who are simply much greater than the sum of their parts?

I prefer the rougher edges of Survival though. Even sunshine needs clouds or the contrast disappears.