It's been 15 years or so before Cold Chisel reunited to record this album. And then it took up to half a year to get it to Holland. But what an album it is!!! I gotta say that I've been a big fan of Jimmy Barnes ever since Freight Train Heart. But the albums that followed that brilliant piece of work (co-written by giants like Neal Schon) never reached the same level (except maybe for the Barnestorming live album). With the release of The Last Wave Of Summer the level of the songs most of the times equal that of Freight Train Heart and sometimes even top it! The latter certainly counts for the first two songs on the album. Especially The Things I Love In You is one of my favourite tracks on the album. My God, I could play this song forever! And don't think that's it, 'cause Barnes & Co. have only started yet... The furious Baby's On Fire can only be sung with a voice that's been treated with sandpaper every now and then and then Jimmy Barnes is your man. It's amazing that someone can use his voice like he does for that long without ruining it completely. On Way Down it's guitarist/singer Ian Moss that treats us with one of the best ballads I've heard over the last year (and the last ten years for that matter). It's been a long time since I've heard so much emotion in a song. With Jimmy's background vocals perfectly fitting in this - again - is one of those songs that top even the Freight Train Heart era. Bal-A-Versailles... the fifth great song in a row. Nothing special during the Eighties, but lately I haven't heard much albums that match that! No problem though for Cold Chisel and to prove that they just add a sixth (Yakuza Girls) and a seventh (Angel In My Room) one. The first in the style of Baby's On Fire, the second being another great ballad, not as great as Way Down but "just" great. The next four songs keep The Last Wave Of Summer from getting the full score. Any other band would be glad to record tracks like that but compared to the rest of the album they just won't do. But then Water Into Wine comes by and this ballad is so beautifully fragile it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. The Last Wave Of Summer and the hidden track reach the same level as the first seven, so the 4,5 M's (out of 5) are more than deserved.

9 out of 10.