Late Night Tales

AMG Review of Late Night Tales

Andrew Leahey
All Music Guide

Snow Patrol's pop anthems don't lend themselves well to late-night clubbing, but the band's installment of LateNightTales is surprisingly moody, stylish, and fairly danceable. Produced by frontman Gary Lightbody and keyboardist Tom Simpson, the disc weaves a narrative out of 19 tracks, finding the links that exist between Captain Beefheart, A Tribe Called Quest, and Allen Toussaint. The songs slyly bleed into one another -- a result of the band's DJ capabilities (who knew?) -- and the liner notes help shed some light on the band's selections. This being a LateNightTales release, there's an overarching emphasis on nocturnal ambience, and the album's biggest strength is its ability to sustain that mood over the course of 60 minutes. A close second, however, is Snow Patrol's own contribution, an electro-acoustic cover of INXS' "New Sensation," that tones down the band's epic tendencies for something intimate.