Can you be too talented? Long championed by the much-missed Jack Massarik, McLean has somehow slipped beneath the radar that has picked up and promoted less challenging artists. Perhaps The Bopped and The Bopless can change that, with it's mix of hard swinging post-bop keys, imaginative arrangements and strikingly original writing. Indeed, for its piano playing alone – Massarik made no bones of namechecking Art Tatum when writing of McLean – The Bopped is rich with McLean's talents: just check out those long swinging runs on ‘I Waited For You’. But it's also typical of McLean that he takes that Dizzy song and gives it an almost surreal edge. And perhaps only McLean could couple Gillespie with a manic version of The Ruts’ ‘Babylon's Burning’. But McLean isn’t all gothy knottiness; he's positively lyrical on ‘Lucy’, delivered against a whole chorus of multi-tracked McLean's. And, of course, he attracts nothing but the best among musicians: Eagles contributes squally tenor to ‘Polly’ while Lockrane and Langley likewise ooze class, as does Yarde, a long time McLean associate. Now indeed may be the time for McLean and his unique vision.