4 out of 5

Label: Too Pure

Producer: Scout?

Three tracks, all quality.  And you’ve gotta’ appreciate a single where the album track is an alternate take… and not a toss off one, with enough differences to give it a different mood.  First up is ‘Dinosaur Egg,’ with ‘Lyrics by David Shrigley taken from his “worried noodles” book’, according to the notes on the interior.  You would think, like me, that this is a kid’s book based on Scout’s sing-songy words, but the track shifts easily enough into something darker.  The themes absolutely fit with Scout’s weird and surreal oeuvre, but it was a smart move to not include it with ‘Calcination,’ which had a much harsher exterior, whereas ‘Egg’ fits more with the vibe on the Secretly Canadian albums.  Starting a trend of oddly yet heart-felt rendered covers, we get the Cars ‘Just What I Needed’ done infinitely more sad.  The track starts out sort of loose and shambly and B-sidey, but once Niblett finds the rhythm, it works.  Finally ‘Just Do It,’ which is a little less punchy than the album cut and with some more production layering.  The version here fits better with the lighter-hearted look and feel of the single, and gives us a hint of what the variations of the song Scout recorded for each version of a limited single of the track could’ve offered…

Worth tracking down, even for casual Niblett fans.