I've been holding off on writing this review because at present Harcourt's latest is still only available as an import, which was something that I assumed would change since it's release in the UK over three months ago. The truth is, the music industry is in such a quandary right now, what with the old school dinasaurs scrambling to hold onto their golden egg laying goose as it becomes increasingly greasy and harder to pin down. The digital revolution is upon us, like it or not and buying music at a music store is something that is simply going to go away.

As much as a shame as this truly is, it has it's advantages, chief among them is that consumers are no longer at the mercy of record companies who want to control what we listen to. The good stuff can be found on the net and on satellite and can no longer be secreted away from the public - if the big four can't find a profitable angle. Ed Harcourt's newest The Beautiful Lie definitely gives his Strangers (then considered his masterpiece) a run for it's money, and though it's only available on import, go seek it out with your computer. If you don't possess such savvy (like me) you probably have a friend who does (like me). Goodness how the Beauty lies in the Beautiful Lie - song after song Harcourt plies his considerable melodic and lyrical prowess, among challenging arrangements that keep any of these tuneful morsels from becoming tiresome.

Harcourt is among our greatest singer songwriters, who has contemporaries and equals but few peers. If you like Badly Drawn Boy, or Sufjan Stevens, Bright Eyes, Elliot Smith, Joseph Aurthur then you're sure to love Harcourt. As I mentioned in my recent Sleepy Jackson review, their amazing metamorphosis is remarkably akin to Ed Harcourt and listening to the two albums alternatively as I was, I would frequently become lost as to which album I was listening to. Ed has spread so much magic upon these tracks that it's hard to pick favorites. The album opens with the spritely guitar work of "Whirlwind in D minor," and then settles into to a series of pensive and lyrically thoughtful balads including "You Only Call Me When You're Drunk," "The Last Cigarette," "Late Night Partner." Midway through the record becomes more eclectic with highlights being the more serious Buckley-esque "Until Tomorrow Then," "Rain on the Pretty Ones," "Braile" that smacks of early Joseph Arthur and winds up with the lovely "Good Friends Are Hard to Find."

Just go to itunes or Amazon and burn yourself a copy, you'll never regret the effort and above all, artists with this much talent deserve our support. I don't know what's holding up the US release of The Beautiful Lie but it's no stretch of the truth to proclaim it one of the years strongest records.