Released in the summer of 2009, the saga of Paolo Nutini and his second album "Sunny Side Up" still keeps the chart publishers in a state of excitement. Having recently reached the top of the British charts for the third time within a year, it symbolically tells the story of the 23-years old Scot and his rhythm and blues orchestra. Loved by many, but not completely embraced by society and its musical watchdogs yet. With 'Coming Up Easy', '10/10' and 'Candy' all released as singles, and considering his over-romanticized image, it's no wonder people doubt about Paolo Nutini's sincerity. The reality though, is that half the album is filled with folk songs, that his retro soul tunes are amazingly well written and that his most commercially attractive songs, 'Candy' and '10/10', are, in fact, the weak side of the album.

Starting off with Nutini's slightly failed attempt at reggae, '10/10', it's the next two songs, 'Coming Up Easy' and 'Growing Up Beside You' that shows what the man is really about. 'Coming Up Easy' represents the passionate soul fanatic in Nutini. With energy flooding in from his head to his toes, he builds the song up slowly, only to end with an outcry hardly matched since the heydays of American soul. It could've been more interesting lyrically - for a song about a drug addiction it's quite mellow and cryptogrammic - but 'Coming Up Easy' is nevertheless a musical highlight, only to come to fruition on 'Pencil Full of Load' and 'No Other Way'.

With the horn and rhythm section spitting out fire like crazy, 'A Pencil Full of Load' sees Nutini throwing out his utter happiness of a life of domestic peace, love and simplicity. Inspired by the brassy sounds of Jungle Book's 'I Wanna Be Like You', 'Pencil' is the household equivalent of the dance hall hits of the fifties. 'No Other Way' on the other hand, while not as musically active and uplifting as 'Pencil', is a song so inspired by the "Wall of Sound" school of Phil Spector that you actually suspect it to be an unreleased track of the current jailhouse rocker. A ballad in everything but his voice, the heavy brass and brilliant arrangement is built up so perfectly that no-one, not even the master himself could have done it any other way.


Despite all this, most of the music of "Sunny Side Up" drowns in resilience and social withdrawl. 'Growing Up Beside You' sounds like a song popular at the time of the Wall Street crash, while 'Tricks of the Trade', 'Simple Things and 'Chamber Music' all have their feet firm on the ground of folk, Tim Hardin and grass roots. With the lyrics and musical accompaniment shining out in simplicity, Nutini masters the simple, effective melodies but sadly misses the literal talent to turn words into telling pictures. With 'High Hopes' a bit too cheesy and the excellent cover 'Worried Man' closing down the folky side of the Scot, it's only 'Keep Rolling', Nutini's impression of Elvis' choir the Jordanaires, that's left before the sunny side is over.

Going from a romantic balladeer, and from a lonely street wanderer to a classic soul vocalist, Paolo Nutini's collection of roots and pop music is an album of many ups and downs. A man his age should be able to come up with a bit more consistency in his lyric writing but, on the other hand, a man his age that sings so passionately, deep and personal he could be forgiven for his lyrical sins.

A collection which tries to please everyone usually reaches no-one, but "Sunny Side Up" is the traditional exception and with three top positions within a year, it seems likely that sooner or later, the amount of people liking Nutini is going to overrule the shrinking group of critics.