Count legendary Fairport Convention stickman Dave Mattacks and XTC guitargonaut Dave Gregory among the stellar guests on board for "Cycle", the long-awaited collaboration between ex-Headlight and Roger McGuinn sideman, Steve Robinson, and award-winning singer/songwriter Ed Woltil of The Ditchflowers. Steve Robinson is an Englishman lost in America; Ed Woltil is a Florida boy who always thought of England as his true musical homeland. Hardly surprising then, that these two Tampa Bay area stalwarts would end up doing a bit of musical hand-holding. Ever the dynamic duo, it's only taken them 25 years to do it. Recorded at their respective home studios as well as Brian Merrill's Studio B in St. Petersburg, the mood on the resultant 13-track CD, Cycle, veers from sunny to frosty, poptastic to sarcastic, quirky to stately and back again for another go-round. While snarky electric tracks like the Dave Gregory-propelled Liberty Daze and Elastic Man show that Robinson and Woltil aren't above a little tart, tongue-in-cheek social commentary, it's the warm-hearted, acoustic-based odes to daughters (Butterflies/Who You Are) and old friends (Hello, Hello/Godspeed) that paint them as the softies that they really are. Dave Mattacks, whose drumming skills have seen him in the employ of luminaries like Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Richard Thompson and Elton John, contributes stellar drum tracks to album opener, Love Somebody and The Boy From Down The Hill. The latter seeing him reunited with XTC guitar-God Dave Gregory, whose backwards guitar flourishes along with Woltil's mad percussion tracks help turn it into a sort of medieval psych-folk romp. Mental. Gregory, who recorded 1991's Nonsuch as part of XTC (with Mattacks behind the kit), also contributes some fabulous Harrisonesque slide guitar to the vaguely Kinksy/XTC-ish Elastic Man and in an astonishing, barely disguised nod to Queen guitarist Brian May, helps turn the acid-tongued Liberty Daze into a bit of a jaw-dropping tour-de-force. Additional guests include bass whiz, Andy Irvine, drummers Chuck Darling and Aaron Kant, Robinson's teen daughter, Emma, and Tampa Bay area's go-to producer, Zen master and ex-Headlight, Steve Connelly, who adds a little mixing expertise and gifts some lovely slide and pedal steel guitars into the bargain.