After the somewhat quirky 'Road to Hell Pt2' the first listen of 'King of the Beach' was like slipping into your favourite slippers. This is a beautifully crafted album with at least one track to please everyone who hears it. The lyrics are as meaningful as ever and there are few artists who can write a melody like Chris Rea. He still continues to be one of the most under rated musicians of our time. No there is nothing startling about this album, but give it a listen or two and I guarentee you will be humming the tunes all day.

What a pleasant surprise! After driving down a commercial alley for the past 7 or so CDs, this is a return to the Rea glory days. He is a great tunesmith with a legendary voice, and this recording has a reassuring quality that Shamrock, On The Beach and Wired also have.

His CDs do not really need a stand out single, as their enduring value lies in their ability to put one's mind at peace for the entire recording.

I would say that the only weak track is Tamatave, as his Geordie French really doesn't work! On the positives, Sail Away has a similar soporific feel to Just Passing Through, and while Bones of Angels and All Summer Long are beautifully crafted Rea tunes, I would say that my favourite is the foot tapping gem - Who Do You Love.

On The Beach (part2). If you liked the origional you'll love this. A quite slow and very relaxed album. The title track King Of The Beach is one of the few faster paced tracks. Bones of Angels and a remake of Guitar Street are highlights, while my favorite is Who Do You Love. God Gave Me An Angel sees a new style for the artist, very like Elton John. His best album since the quirky Espresso Logic.

After the techno-tinged "Road to hell, part II", "King of the beach" is a return to compositions dominated by smooth melodies and mellow instrumentation, which proves only partially successful. The thirteen tracks of rather uneventful and lukewarm music almost send me to sleep after extended listening and confirm that Rea obviously has lost all his ambitions. Also, the new material is too reminiscent of what has gone before, and even worse, nearly every track contains an element from a previous Rea song. There are even two pieces which are directly named after old Rea songs: "All summer long" and "Guitar street", but it should be said that they are different in both lyrics and music. "Still beautiful" and "All summer long" have the same drum pattern and vocal delivery as Rea's 1988 hit single "Driving home for Christmas". The other songs seem to rely on mangling a soft-rock formula that rarely changes; slow guitar lines, ponderous rhythms which are generated by drum machines, washes of Hammond organs in the background, and whispery, listless vocals. In general, the lyrics lack much-needed inspiration and simply don't stand up to the concerns of "Road to hell, part I" or the thoughtful "Auberge". The only three songs which stand out among the fair amount of undistinguished tracks are the half-way memorable single "All summer long", the densely rhythmic "The bones of angels", and the piano-driven "Tamatave". The rest is uninspired and low-key to the point of being background music. Only one need to compare it to the variety of styles tried on Rea's '80s and early-'90s albums. Unless you have to fill your Rea library, save yourself a big disappointment and give "King of the beach" a pass.

After an interesting, and we suspect not very successful, foray into envelope-pushing experimentation with "Road to Hell Pt 2," Chris Rea is back with a solid set that will please fans of his other work. The strongest tracks on "King of the Beach" are ballads such as "Sail Away," but there is plenty of variety here, including the standout track "All Summer Long." Chris' voice is in that strong, rough/tender timbre that sits comfortably against the sterling steel guitar that is his trademark sound. If you liked "On the Beach" or "Auberge," you'll probably love this one.