That the first two Saints records, I’m Stranded and Eternally Yours, are undisputed punk classics should go without saying. Snarling mission statements of how to plow ahead when all hope is lost, the albums also belie an intelligence and sense of songcraft that looked beyond the ’77 mindset of punk’s initial explosion. By the band’s third album, Prehistoric Sounds, the soul and R&B influence that underwrote those first two records and reached their peak on “Know Your Product” became the standard. And while the passion never wavered, it was clear that Chris Bailey, who would become the face of The Saints after the departure of songwriting partner Ed Keuper following the release of Sounds, was leaving punk behind.

The Saints have been kind of all over the place under Bailey’s command, and anyone looking to delve deeper into the band’s catalog should realize that after the departure of Keuper the band essentially functioned as a vehicle for Bailey’s hit-or-miss solo career (though he made proper solo albums as well). King of the Sun (Fire Records), a concept album that evokes the sweeping grandeur of Australia and the literally epic subject of returning home from war, lands somewhere along that hit-or-miss spectrum, depending on how you view the band. The album taps into a certain undeniable widescreen Down Under romanticism that is easily overlooked these days in favor of the smash-up-the-pub grind of Cuntz on the one hand or the end-times synth-punk of Total Control on the other. These songs have a sophisticated, thoughtful approach, the calling card of the “serious songwriter.”

The second disc of King of the Midnight Sun is a rawer, stripped down version of the original record. (Bailey decided to re-record the album after Barrington Francis, guitarist in The Saints from 1979 to 1989, returned to the fold.) But even with more pronounced guitars and less instrumental embellishments, which, in many ways, are one of the most charming aspects of King of the Sun, anyone groomed on those original holy blasts will be left wanting a bit more. While Bailey can still offer a solid rocker or two—with “Turn” recalling some of the band’s more powerful moments of yore—this is the kind of album that one generously refers to as “interesting.”