After three years apart, Bobby Sutliff and Tim Lee have returned with surprising coherence as the Windbreakers. The split came at a time when Sutliff`s jangly pop tendencies were diverging from Lee`s desire to wail on his guitar, but after a few middling solo projects, the duo are musically communicating again. Lee gives Sutliff`s love-lost tunes a kick in the pants, and Sutliff`s melodicism and concision have rubbed off on the ragged-voiced Lee. The result is their most consistent work since 1985`s ”Terminal”-and this one`s punchier. Highlights include Sutliff`s brooding ”On the Wire” and ”Cold, Cold Rain” and Lee`s optimistic ”Just Fine” and ”Closer to Home,” which features the fitting refrain ”The farther I travel, I get closer to home.”
