A Kevin Coyne dance album? Not quite, but Carnival has as many moments of upbeat joy as pained contemplation. Tired of being consigned to a pigeonhole for troubled eccentrics, the prolific novelist/artist/musician now resident in Germany lets loose on the Bobby Parker-alike "Wobble" and gives his unique twist to the stabbing electro of "Party Party Party". Coyne's partnership with son Robert (co-producer/songwriter) continues to mine new territory. The spare, icy poetry of "Missing You" masterfully contrasts with a seething rearrangement of Muddy Waters' "Rolling And Tumbling". Only a true original could breath new life into the latter, and Coyne still fits that bill.

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