In the age of music downloads, is it worth even thinking about cover art anymore, never mind discussing it in a review? Probably not – so I will. On first view, I thought the shot of Liam Noble leaning over a table seated next to a toy parrot a real low point of cover art. And then I read Noble's explanation (‘Playing alone can be a solitary business, but it's also a kind of dialogue with oneself. It almost feels like someone else is there with me, an almost physical presence. Perhaps if I could see it, it might resemble a furry bird’) and I revised my opinion to – maybe this is actually one of the all-time-great covers! The truth no doubt lies somewhere in the middle, but image-plus-words certainly helped me focus on the particular challenge of the project, which sees Noble recording alone for the first time in 20 years and applying his significant talents to a series of standards and improvisations – the most personal dialogue of all personal dialogues, carried into meta-territory on ‘Now and Then (Overdub)’, which has Noble improvising over his earlier improvisation ‘Now’, which precedes it by a couple of tracks in the running order here. Noble's crosswise way with a theme means that he can tackle big titles (‘Wouldn't It Be Loverly’, ‘There Is No Greater Love’, ‘Body and Soul’) without any danger of being upstaged by over-familiar tunes.