THE renaissance of Tim Booth, Boston Spa’s most famous modern son, continues apace. His legendary band James played an outstandingly good gig in Leeds in December and Booth himself is back with a thought-provoking and, at times, inspired new album.

It is seven years since Booth released Bone, his first solo album, and Love Life picks up where Bone left off, although here the lyrics are darker and the Sixties musical influences (Bob Dylan and Lou Reed especially) more pronounced.

Intriguingly, opening track As Far As I Can See is an up-beat and beguiling love song, which emphatically does not set the scene for what follows. Buried Alive is a nightmarish reworking of the Stones’ Mother’s Little Helper, while Harbour deals primarily with casual sex and domestic violence and Monsters is a hallucinogenic fusion of Alice In Wonderland and a Wes Craven horror film.

The predominately bleak atmosphere is balanced by the anthemic Bless ‘Em All and ultimately lifted by Tim Booth’s unique voice. Rich, warm, expressive and engrossing, it remains one of the finest in contemporary rock.

When James split, there was a good deal of genuine sadness – not just among the band’s more loopy, goofy followers, but also among those of us who felt James were one of the best bands of the 1990s. The triumphant reunion, and Tim Booth’s burgeoning solo career, has put a smile back on all our faces.