The album is fantastic. And the closing song leaves you satisfied.

Oops, I didn't realise Keep On Going was written by Bob Welch. The instrumentality certainly has his signature but I always assumed it was penned by Christine. Makes more sense now.

It really is a meaty record—a lot of great music on it. My only beef is the way it’s engineered and recorded. The speakers are too close, I think. In this regard Penguin is actually superior. Nothing on Mystery sounds as good as, say, “Night Watch.” A good point of comparison is “Caught in the Rain” and “The Way That I Feel.” Both songs are essentially acoustic guitar and piano, but whereas “Feel” is a more original and fulfilled song, “Caught” sounds way better. I don’t have the technical skills or vocabulary to say what I want to say.

The drum sound (not the playing or the drum parts) on Mystery also sounds odd, like a toy instrument, or a garage recording with all the reverb sucked out of the room? I don’t know how to explain it. All I know is the ONLY problem I have with Mystery (apart from two dud tunes) is how it was recorded/engineered.

For what it’s worth, this is the only beef I have with Bare Trees, too, though there the sound is problematic in a different way, like it’s too muddled and all the levels are running at the same frequency or something. No dynamics there. Mystery’s problem is different.

Both Future Games and Penguin (which are comparatively more uneven than either Bare Trees or Mystery) sound crisp and lush.