On Fortune Street - Single

This was Stiff Little Fingers leader Burns' solo band during that 1983-1988 period that S.L.F. was defunct, and it's a further extrapolation of that group's 1982 swansong (pre-comeback) Now Then... mold, as Burns tones down the guitars completely in favor of the sort of sparkling pop he then admired. (I remember him saying to Tim Sommer on WNYU in 1982 how much he loved Elvis Costello's Imperial Bedroom). Not all these 17 songs on the CD (which greatly expands the mere three singles actually released on Jive U.K., thanks to 10 BBC session tracks) are gold, but for those who still loved SLF through all their changes, there can be no quibble with the likes of "Here Comes That Song Again," a thinly-disguised gripe at two-faced politicians, the title track, and "She Grew Up."