BEAUTIFUL, JUST beautiful. Another singer/songwriter with a monkey on his back – you have only got to look at the cover to see what I mean.

The opening lines – “I’ll keep your monkey, I’ll treat him good” and “Give us milk, you little pig, we’ll tell you when we’re through” – set the tone and from there on it just gets better.

Henry’s current mix of rock and funk produces some compelling, late night, jazz-tinged atmospherics that carefully reflect the surrealistic nature of his writing. Layered with violins, cello, saxophones and a host of keyboards from piano to mini moog, the record features an equally diverse cast of contributors.

The players include The Dirty Dozen Brass Band and members of The Wallflowers; Henry produced the album in Los Angeles and New Orleans and it was mixed in part by T-Bone Burnett and Daniel Landis the latter adding his unique touch to ‘Want Too Much’.

All of the songs are Henry’s own, bar a relaxed version of the classic ‘We’ll Meet Again’, which works well in this engagingly eclectic context. I’ve enjoyed all of Joe Henry’s output to date, but this album grows on you with every new play. It’s time Joe Public met Joe Henry.