Mockingbird Time

Mockingbird Time yields its pleasures slowly – at first listen, it felt like a letdown – but once revealed, they're indelible.

Ignore the mouth-breathing rock bangers, and Mockingbird is as comfortable as well-worn denim.

While many of these songs succeed, some performances also feel slightly phoned in.

This is a solid album that will make fans happy without an instant classic like "Waiting For The Sun" or "Blue."

The Jayhawks made their mix a signature long ago; though they stretch out with surprising hooks, the tunes are branded like calves – soaring singalongs full of bad weather, emotional and meteorological.

The best songs on Mockingbird Time wind through changes, like a dialectical debate between Louris’ rock side and Olson’s folk side.

Mockingbird Time suffers most in the songwriting, which too often relies on soft hooks and indistinct details that never quite add up to conflicts or characters.

The artist have the skill and style to create more great art, but on Mockingbird Time, the stigma of great art is too present.