Some bands just have that special talent for elevating the ordinary into something commercial and Tide Lines are such a band. Their fourth album “Glasgow Love Story” takes a romanticised overview of the better parts of this no mean city and turns it into twelve songs cleverly contrived to excite festival audiences throughout the summer.
Let’s talk songs. If you like a singalong chorus – and who doesn’t? – then you will be driven, and I mean driven like you had no other purpose in life, to blast your lungs to “Better Days” or “Brother”. If you like a bit of history to mix with your sentimental needs then “By The Quayside” will undoubtedly tick your box and if you are currently staying in heartbreak hotel then “Ashton Lane” is guaranteed to be with you in the morning. Nothing wrong with all that, of course, and it is to Tide Line’s credit that they can do all of the above to a near thesaurus level of perfection.
While their Glasgow is more Cabernet Sauvignon than Buckfast, it is hard to argue with the ability of Tide Lines to give their intended audience what they want. For a Scottish band of these times, that is a positive result and I am sure that album number five will soon follow.