The mellow-yellow in-lay building the tone, before you even get the chance to open the case.
A horn section blasts, 'Ladies and gentlemen. Let us begin!', joined by a sweet uplift of piano. The scene is set for the album, through reggae stomping opening track, 10/10. The fourth single to be released from Sunny Side Up, a track that has received a brilliant reception. It is the perfect way to kick off the album. The voice himself is back in full force. If you don't get the urge to jump out of your seat, and pull the nearest person into a shoulder swaggering skank, there is something seriously wrong with you.

Smoothness is the name of the game. Seamless connecting track Coming Up Easy, is a gentle roller, allowing the raw, natural depths of Nutini's voice to play alongside the fluent, Stax style bass line effortlessly, climaxing in an explosion of horns and vocal solo power. It is hard to believe that an artist could move from head bopping ska, into laid back, attractive soul so well, but it couldn't have worked out any better.

On a multi-tonal road trip like Sunny Side, it is only fair that sometimes you stop off at the nearest services, for a little breather and a tea. While boasting an impressive cast of toe-tapping numbers, these breathers come in a few shapes throughout the album. Prime example is third track Growing Up Beside You. An emotional attachment of love and honesty, 'I don't always get the way you feel, But now I've learned to live with that'. The mood set into a timeless guitar led, country-like ensemble.

Sunny Side is an eclectic mix of Nutini's best attributes. He has written his artistic licence into every song, and rightly so. If you have the matches, why not light the fire? You get the feeling he didn't get the same privilege on 2006's release These Streets. I feel that it is a mix of him growing as an artist, and the record company hounds realising that, to be understood, he doesn't need to be tucked into the pop blanket that suffocated Sunny Side from surfacing earlier.

A personal favourite appears in track Pencil Full of Lead. A playful outline of simplicity, in which he is showing you, that the fame of past successes isn't making his head swell too much. Playing on a trumpet opened, blues based mash of hip swinging jives, and the killer,mouth organ solo, slap, bang in the middle is another reason to move your feet.
Although it may be the most simple, and the least productive of all the twelve tracks on the album, Worried Man is worth noting. The line, 'Cause he feels he is getting old before his time', sets a slightly darker undertone. A clear example of Nutini's view of himself laid naked for any listener. Voice and guitar, aided by a full, folk chorus and eire strings, leaving the album on a thoughtful but dark note. Matching that of following and final tune, Keep Rolling, the track to leave you to your slumber, while your head is at it's heaviest. Not good-bye, more, until next time.

If you want to have a 'real' view of what Paolo Nutini can achieve, this album is exactly that. A mix of genres, pulled off with-out a stumble, a sturdy middle finger to anyone who has previously labelled him pop.