So Many Nights by Cat Empire (The) (CD, Jan-2008, Velour Recordings USA)

This is a very pleasant case where a group manages to surpass its debut album. I enjoyed "Two Shoes," the previous Cat Empire disc, but beyond "Sly," the powerful kick-off to that collection, the rest of the songs lost steam. This time around nearly every track is top quality. There are a few standouts ("Fishies," "Voodoo Cowboy," "Strong Coffee"), but this is one of those discs you will leave in your player and let repeat time and time again. This band also offers some of the best produced discs in recent memory, and the instrumentation is phenomenal throughout. The sound is a unique blend of jazz, ska, reggae, even a bit of dub, with a strong rhythm backbone and lots of horns that combine to give it a Latin flavor (although they're Australian, they've been known to record in Cuba). The weakest link is probably the vocals. The singers are capable, but their voices are a bit unpolished by mainstream standards. This is largely a matter of taste -- personally I like the vocals but can see where others might find them a bit rough. All in all, I was delighted to hear this disc, and even without a powerhouse like "Sly" this album beats its predecessor hands-down.