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December music reviews

Afro Celt Sound System: Anatomic

EMI

This is a dynamic and poetic performance from an ensemble that’s on top of its game – music that could equally stretch the horizons of a blissed-out new-age dope den or a blistering downtown dance. There’s an intrinsic symbiotic strength here, sprung from a decade’s worth of co-writing, playing and engineering what you’re creating, in this instance via an array of pipes, drums, keyboards, voices and stringed instruments. Within the songs, an effortless interchange between african, celtic and euro forms maintains constant engagement – a wealth of combinations of acoustic and electronic rhythm and texture to make the hips pulse and the spirits tingle. One moment it’s haunting, gliding and eloquent, the next fearlessly robust and strident. These are sounds about ancient culture undertones and the complex and ambiguous muses of the modern era. Utterly versatile: suitable for tribal trance sundown on the savannah or a bout of private hedonism. Choice, indeed. Paul Green

Paul Anka: Rock Swings

Verve/Universal

While some over-the-hill rock stars are massacring the “great American songbook” (yes, Rod Stewart, I am talking about you), here’s an older pop star that is reversing the process. Paul Anka is perhaps best known for hit 1957 hit Diana and for writing Frank Sinatra’s theme tune, My Way.

On Rock Swings, Anka covers 14 1980s and 1990s pop and rock songs. The kicker is that the arrangements are those of a big band orchestra, such as Nelson Riddle’s wonderful arrangements for Sinatra and Ella.

And it works! Many of these songs are revitalised and can be listen to anew. Favourites include REM’s Everybody Hurts and the Pet Shop Boys’ It’s a Sin – which caused me to listen to the song in a different way. Best of all is Van Halen’s Jump, where David Lee Roth’s swagger is replaced by a Sinatra-like swagger from Anka. Excellent stuff.

Some don’t work as well. The Way You Make Me Feel keeps bringing Michael Jackson to mind, while with Wonderwall Anka keeps Gallagher’s clumsy diction. The recording is pretty good. It doesn’t have the warmth of 1950s Sinatra and Ella recordings, but then what today does?

Great idea. Great Recording. Great Performance. Michael Jones

Chuck Berry: Gold

Chess/Universal

There have been plenty of Berry compilations released over the years. Those that I’ve sampled have lacked either sound quality or good track selection. Gold is an exception.

Released as part of Universal Music’s Gold series of compilations, Berry Gold contains 49 songs, including all of the Berry classics, from 1955’s Maybellene through to the not so classic My Ding-A-Ling – Berry’s only US #1. The first of the two CDs (Maybellene to 1959’s Almost Grown) is pretty much a lesson in early rock’n’roll music. Sound quality is very good, considering the recordings – like many 1950s and early 1960s recordings, the sound is warm and inviting, not thin and scratchy as on too many compilations. Michael Jones

Cream: Royal Albert Hall DVD

Rhino/Warner

Sometimes, a bad experience can lead to good things. Apparently it was a serious illness from ex-Cream bass player, Jack Bruce, which led to this reunion concert. Once Bruce recovered, the realisation that “if we don’t do this now we may never be able to” struck the three members of the infamously warring 1960s band.

Recorded over four nights in May 2005, this two-DVD set includes most of the famous Cream songs (no I Feel Free though), in front of an enthusiastic audience. All three band members sing and play well. The energy of the 65-year-old Baker on the drum kit is a joy to see. Although Baker’s drumming is still powerful (yes, he does a lengthy drum solo in Toad), his voice certainly hasn’t improved in Pressed Rat and Warthog. Clapton’s guitar and singing are as professional as we’ve come to know it. Bruce’s playing on his fretless bass guitar is as fluid and powerful as always, but his voice has suffered over the years.

Both picture and sound quality are excellent. The DVD is in DTS surround sound and stereo. As often happens with concert DVDs, the surround portion appears to be a delayed and attenuated echo of the front channels, plus a bit of audience noise panned in. In other words, you’re not missing anything by listening in stereo.

This is a great concert for Cream fans – one no one thought we would ever see. Michael Jones

Danse Macabre: Between The Lines

Universal

Early 1980s Auckland band finally make it on to CD. Influenced by UK bands of the time, such as Joy Division, Cure etc, Dance Macabre released one 12” EP (Between The Lines) and a mini-LP, Last Request, before breaking up.

Glyn Tucker has performed an excellent mastering job on these tracks. The original master tapes have vanished, so tucker used some very good vinyl transfers. You wouldn’t realise this from listening to the CD. The sound from the EP tracks are excellent – a huge sound with big bass and very percussive drums. The tracks from the mini-LP don’t have quite the same impact; neither do the songs.

It’s great to see this music finally available on CD. You’d be smart to grab it now – there may not be more production runs of this title. Michael Jones

Hackensaw Boys: Love What You Do

Nettwerk

Marketed as alt-country, these boys are more like alt-bluegrass, and in the finest traditions of such pickers avoid their stream in your inflatable but dip into a musical experience that is best described as weird at your leisure. I did spot the track titled Kiss Her Down There as a clue that these dudes are not from the bible belting side of pickers in studios that now pour from the States, and the track lives up to its name. While I found a lot of what’s in these twelve tracks as being further proof that not everyone who wants to should be unleashed on the world via the recording circus, and was ready to swathe them down I found the whole growing on me as I stuck with it. Investigate on-line or anywhere else you can find a copy – this could be your little surprise for the year. Yee ha! Allan McFarlane

Herbie Hancock: Possibilities

Hear

For those who read the first sentence of reviews only – This is my Record of the Year.
Are you ready for the line up of stellar guests – (in order) John Mayer, Santana and Angelique Kidjo, Christina Aqueilera, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Sting, Johnny Lang and Joss Stone, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan, Raul Midon, and Trey Anastasio. Whew.

Herbie Hancock describes Possibilities this way: "This is a real collaboration that we’re doing here. It’s all been decided at the session, a record without borders, woven like a tapestry with many colours. The possibilities are endless." The legendary pianist melds magic into every track, refusing to take the spotlight yet illuminating each track with a wizardly solo. The production is dynamite, truly fantastic. All this and you can have fun with “Who Is This” type questions. Great fun. Great release. Don’t miss it. Allan McFarlane

Faith Hill: Fireflies

Warner

Faith Hill strikes an accomplished balance between pop and country genres, with r&b and jazz diva overtones. Although this album gets underway blandly with three songs in which the phrasing and chord sequences are somewhat pedantically conventional, despite the verve of the singing and spiked-in guitar breaks, she digs deeper from thereon in, with both lyrics and delivery authentically powerful. I ain’t gonna take it anymore explores breaking away from an oppressive partner (“no way I’ll win when you keep score”), and Stealing kisses is a shot-through sombre reflection on love gone west, rueing how “stealing kisses from a boy” has disintegrated to now “begging affection from a man”.

The vocal style recalls something between Guy Clark, Tammy W., Warren Zevon and a pearly queen Lucinda – buoyant and resilient, forgiving or grieving. And whilst she tends towards the commercially melodramatic a tad too frequently, mostly she projects herself with heartland conviction and touches of gritty beauty.

Some sweet moments already. Will surely ripen, sometimes supremely, with age and further dallying with the darker side. Paul Green

Rickie Lee Jones: Duchess of Coolsville

Rhino

Think of Rickie Lee Jones and you will think of that swinging, streetwise, beret wearing chick singing Chuck E's In Love, but there is so much more. (Was it really 25 years ago?) Her jazzy, easy-street blues style has influenced many artists and it is perhaps a little surprising that there haven’t been other hits to rival Chuck E. Other notable songs on this compilation are On Saturday Afternoon in 1963 and The Horses from Flying Cowboys in 1989 and Rickie’s version of Sunshine Superman from the Party of Five soundtrack.

Duchess of Coolsville is a three disc package where the first two discs cover her career in alphabetical rather than the normal chronological order. The third disc has live tracks, collaborations and demos, some that have never been released before. The first two discs really show off Rickie’s versatile song writing and performing talent. There is no chance of one song merging into another as often happens with singer songwriter productions. Because of the unusual arrangement of the album the tracks vary greatly from song to song, making for a new appreciation of them. This is not a full collection of Rickie’s work, but as an anthology I think it works well. It is much more interesting than the usual greatest hit compilations.

The discs are housed in a card-fold packaging that is becoming popular. A booklet, with many endorsements from other artists and acquaintances, has been glued to the inside cover making it difficult to read. Minor quibbles aside it is a nice package and the CD transfers are high quality. I wonder if she still wears that beret… cool! Richard Nelson

Manu Katche: Neighbourhood

ECM

To some, this album by regular drummer to mainstream stars Peter Gabriel, Sting, Joni Mitchell and Robbie Robertson comes as a welcome airing by this Paris bred sticksman, Manu Katche. Katche has had a good 15 year apprenticeship with Manfred Eicher’s ECM label out of Germany. He has drummed on numerous Jan Garbarek albums, and it is this connection which has held Katche in good stead for his debut ECM album Neighbourhood. For readers not familiar with the ECM sound, it is mellifluously rich in detail and always an aural delight to experience. The music label itself is (generally) European jazz, not be-bop, not fusion, but free flowing contemporary sounding jazz often featuring unconventional coupling of instruments.

Having said this, Neighbourhood features a very tried and tested line-up of instruments joining him on drums – Jan Garbarek (tenor sax), Tomasz Stanko (trumpet), Marcin Wasilewski (piano) and Slawomir Kurkiewicz (double bass). Together, the quintet deliver the 10 Katche-penned originals with a fluid rustle. The craftsmanship of the music is exemplary, so too is the interplay between two elder statesmen (Garbarek and Stanko), the guy behind the kit (Katche) and the young lions (Wasilewski and Kurkiewicz). Perhaps it was deliberate management on Katche or Eicher’s part to team these particular musicians together. Regardless, the result in musical terms is a truly attractive, well measured, and thoughtful effort.

For the uninitiated, Neighbourhood is arguably the most generally accessible of all ECM albums. It certainly is out of the fifty or so albums I have heard. The tracks are paced at moderate to brisk tempo (the latter being the aptly named Lovely Walk). For drummers familiar with Katche’s sound and style, it is certainly evident throughout the album. It is, however, a mature and well balanced Manu Katche one hears on Neighbourhood. What is possibly more impressive than a gifted drummer is a gifted all-round musician. On the strength of Neighbourhood, I think Katche shows he has many gifts. Lloyd Macomber

Nik Kershaw: Then and Now

Universal

And very periodically, in one of those lamentably unguarded moments, when you should know, but there’s brass in pocket and there are old times to perhaps be fruitfully revisited…you reach out a tentative but misdirected hand to a quintessentially 80s pop band. And get your fingers burned, your mind swiftly anaesthetised, and any nostalgic spirit rotating within nailed nakedly to the mast of the sinking vessel of obsolescence.

How was it possible to even remotely consider there was something worth salvaging? The penalty of poor memory. Nik Kershaw: over-bright laboured synthetic rhythms, Elton John-intoned bubblegum choruses, shrill instrumental interludes, corny word-play (“let’s go human racing” etc). The liner notes suggest an admirable humility (and inadvertent truth) with the tribute to those he wants to “thank/share the blame with”. Local lad made good, then (for some) but not now. Don’t go there. Paul Green

Later… with Jools Holland: Even Louder

Warner DVD

The genre breaking British music show provides a somewhat eclectic mix of bands. This DVD is a compilation of heavier acts from PJ Harvey to Mercury Rev. What becomes apparent is that some bands can play live and others are not so convincing. This collection of live performances covers both types. In the first group are bands like Green Day performing American Idiot, Garbage and Jet. Other performances worth noting include The Killers, The Datsuns, Metallica and Alice in Chains. Not so good were… some others.

For an eighties relic like me seeing an over weight Robert Smith with The Cure had me wondering what century we are in. To add to my confusion The Bravery performed Honest Mistake sounding just like late eighties New Order (love that disco bass). Sentiment aside this is an interesting collection of mostly newer acts and is not a bad way to sample a wide collection of acts.

With 31 tracks this DVD is certainly value for money. The video is 16:9 NTSC which is good news for us with widescreen and the audio is PCM with no surround. Extras are limited to a couple of short interviews. To those bands in the second group, and you know who you are, practice makes perfect. Richard Nelson

Cheikh Lo: Lamp Fall

World Circuit Records

Cheikh Lo hails from Senegal, the land that brought us Youssou N’Dour and Baaba Maal. Like both, he possesses a soulful and versatile voice. On this album, he has moved beyond a pure African sound to embrace Brazilian and Cuban styles. So you have a mix of m’balax, flamenco, reggae, soul and Cuban flavours. More often than not it works.

Particular favourites are Kelle Magni (War is not good) – with its upbeat and insistent riff; Senegal-Bresil which features a 40-strong samba percussion group and a strong chorus, and Sante Yalla (Thanks to Almighty God) which slinks from the speakers in a slow groove style (gorgeous). Try and listen to the Zairean style N’galula without feeling the need to move your booty – I bet you can’t!

This is an album of varied styles that benefits from repeat listens. If you’re looking to dip your toe in the World Music ocean but you are not sure where to start, you could do a lot worse than this. Douglas Lang

Phil Manzanera: Vozero

Hannibal Records

Phil Manzanera has carved out his own little niche in rock music. From his days in Roxy Music, to the collaborations with Eno and others, to his solo albums he is known for his atmospheric style that paints epic musical landscapes. Vozero is no exception, his guitar work soars. For the first time he takes lead vocal and does an admirable job. This is apparent from the second track Mystic Moon which bounces along nicely with Livingstone Brown’s bass.

To spice up the musical content, Phil explores his Cuban roots on some of the tracks. This has the effect of giving the album a world music feel at times. However, these influences are not consuming and provide an interesting contrast to the more rocky tracks. The Spanish guitar in Vida provides a beautiful counterpoint to the trumpet.

Not since the heady days of 801 has Phil Manzanera produced such an important album; so important that he calls it a “personal statement”. If you whittle away long enough then you get to the heart of the artist and Phil Manzanera’s niche just got bigger. Richard Nelson

Kathy Mattea: Right Out Of Nowhere

Narada

Kathy Mattea’s career over the last two decades has earned her Grammy’s for both country and Gospel singles. She changed tack again a couple of albums ago and favoured a highly successful Celtic influence for her first two Narada albums. This latest release seems to be blend of all of the above. Blessed with a powerful yet controlled voice that brings sincerity to everything she sings this album finds Mattea delivering a wonderful mix of the sad, exuberant and passionate songs yet always delivered in a thought provoking manner. Any followers of the strong Southern acoustic accompanied songsters should seek this release out. Well worth a listen, with some marvellous picking from the band. Allan McFarlane

Joni Mitchell: Shadows And Light DVD

Warner

Golden era Joni (Hejira release tour, plus a handful from Summer Lawns and Court & Spark), with her ladyship looking and sounding simultaneously sassy and saturnine – all tresses and catsuit and sultry wise-gaze poise. And that voice. And those lyrics(!)

It’s twilight at the Santa Barbara County Bowl and a very 1979-looking audience have the sumptuous prospect of an all-star back-up band featuring most notably Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius. The former embellishes, meanders nimbly around, and occasionally elevates (particularly in Furry sings the Blues) Mitchell’s compositions; Pastorius, meanwhile, quietly steals the show with his peerless riveting enterprise on bass guitar. Some of the songs don’t quite attain their studio lustre – Black Crow, for instance, loses its metronomic crispness amid doubled-up rhythm guitars and over-intervention from Michael Brecker’s sax. The rendering of Amelia, on the other hand, is as delicately determined as the original, and here neatly off-set with poignant archival scenes of the solo pilot and a 1930s ticker-tape parade in her honour.

Elsewhere, the footage edited in to spice up a largely uneventful stage presentation is sometimes naff: James Dean walking huffily out on domestic Ma and Pa, a coyote endlessly chasing a rodent, or somewhat corny self-starring roles as a hitch-hiker or femme fatale counterpart to a pirouetting beau on skates as the fake snowflakes fall; it’s early days auto-bio video effects – and hard to imagine that Joni could look now at these directorial decisions without wincing. There are opportunities not taken with this band – Metheny and Pastorius both get left out of the solo turns in the revved up Raised on Robbery, and the closure choice of Shadows and Light seems a rather morose way to wind it all up. I’ll stick with those studio originals. Paul Green

Willie Nelson: Countryman

Lost Highway

Willie Nelson and reggae don’t seem like a natural combination and a listen to this album confirms it. Willie sings songs one way (very well if you ask me, in case you think I’m anti-Willie) but now and then producers get the idea to put a different feel to the backing music, with greater or lesser result. A success was Teatro where Daniel Lanois succeeded in mixing the vocals with some more adventurous instrumentation. The same couldn’t be said for Milk Cow Blues or this outing. It’s fun for a track or two but gets very samey very quickly. There doesn’t seen to be any imagination shown from the Jamaican contingent, rather it’s Reggae by numbers with a country lead vocalist. Okay, I know Willie’s destroyed more weed than Roundup but alas, it’s not enough of a common background to make him and Reggae good friends. Novelty value only. Craig Fenemor

Peter Paul and Mary: The Very best Of

Rhino/Warner

Folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary have been ill-served on CD to date. The CD release of their catalogue several years ago was marred by the inclusion of a nasty digital reverb over the tracks, making the sound quite different from what fans would expect. This 25-track compilation is the first time that the original, unmolested recordings have been available on CD. About time!

PP&M majored in vocal harmonies and textures. The weaving of the three voices, or setting two up as a background for the third, is an artform that is very difficult to find these days. The songs - often from then little known songwriters such as Gordon Lightfoot, John Denver and Bob Dylan – frequently had leftish and anti-war political leanings of the time.

The sound is simply scrumptious. Rhino’s standard mastering team of Dan Hersch and Bil Inglot are a safe pair of hands, bringing the listener a faithful unmolested and very high quality sound. And, typical for Inglot, he ensures that the correct versions of songs are included – If I Had A Hammer, for example, is the single version, not the different recording that appeared on LP.

An excellent compilation of excellent music. More please. Michael Jones

Bonnie Raitt: Souls Alike

EMI

A couple of gems, two runners-up, and a lot of also-rans. Despite the ‘cutting edge’ claim (“stuff that stretches you” says Bonnie in the A&R blurb), the alleged ambitious innovation turns out to be familiar and often forgettable territory. The lady’s declared wish to champion lesser-known writers (principally band members plus associates) delivers a very mixed bag selection which hardly constitutes a “brave, exhilarating step” – rather more a sideways shuffle.

What works are the laments (So Close and I Don’t Want Anything to Change) where that melodic, wrenched voice explores lyrics which know about healing and hurt across and uncluttered backdrop of wistful instrumentation.

But most of the songs don’t offer her an expansive enough platform. They tend to be over-cooked (guitars, slide and keyboards elbowing away at each other, in a crowded Little Feat-lookalike strut and muscle sound) and disjointed – unsure about where they’ll go next and unable to summon up more than a key change or new barely-related riff to deal with this direction dilemma. Too often too close to ‘much ado about nothing’. Paul Green

Josh Ritter: Golden Age of Radio

Little Big Music/Elite

One of the joys of music reviewing is (among the dross) finding the occasional gem. Josh Ritter is such a find. Think of him as a young Dylan and in fact Josh was once an opening act for the great man.

He has it all. He is only in his mid-twenties, is from Idaho, has great original material as a singer/songwriter and projects a natural warm presence. Okay, so neither the singing nor the recording is perfect… in fact it has a slightly raw quality to it. This is part of the charm. I can imagine him on stage with the same beguiling quality that bonded us so closely to Nora… the innocence. That is also the place where his songs come from. From a place of the heart, from vulnerability and above all: hope. A few samples of his songwriting include “If I could trace the lines that ran between your smile and your slight of hand” or “Dirt roads and dry land farming might be the death of me but I can’t leave this world behind” or “Picture they took of you in your cowboy hat makes you look like you are one of the boys”. It is simple direct writing and yet is does not drop into corn or cliché. It is delivered with energy and life that leaves us enjoying this young man as a tonic for our own world-weariness. Write on Josh. John Groom

John Scofield: That’s What I Say

Verve

When I approach a tribute album I always find myself asking the same question – would I do better to listen to the originals? Invariably the answer is yes and this album is no different. Scofield has got a group of undoubtedly good musicians together (Larry Goldings, Willie Weeks, Steve Jordan, John Mayer, Aaron Neville, Dr John, Mavis Staples, David “Fathead” Newman) and they’ve had fun paying tribute to Ray Charles. That much comes across in the listening. Unfortunately that’s about it for me really. It’s fairly well played, has some good beats, and I’ve played it a bit but I just can’t get all that enthusiastic.

The songs selected are great (Busted, What’d I Say, Cryin’ Time, Let’s Get Stoned, Georgia On My Mind) and give a good overview of Ray’s output. Mavis Staples singing on I Can’t Stop Loving You is excellent are there are some other really good moments but overall it strikes me as competent. Damned by faint praise – maybe. My advice would be to hunt out the originals and really see what this music was about. Craig Fenemor

Sigur Ros: Takk …

EMI

A few years ago, when TV2 devoted three early morning sessions a week to music video programming, I regularly recorded Jamie Bowen’s show with its eclectic mix of what could loosely be termed “alternative” tracks. One that he played several times was stunning concert film of this Icelandic band’s performance of a composition from their then-current Agaetis Byrjun album. Against an ever-changing abstract back projection I was introduced to Jon Por Birgisson’s angelic voice while playing his guitar with a bow. The music meandered through several motifs while the others in the group painted all manner of colours with guitars, keyboards and vocal harmonies. Although I didn’t understand a word – they were then using a fabricated language which they named Hopelandic – it was utterly beguiling.

That album and its inferior successor, (), each sold over half a million copies and they toured widely, including playing at the Glastonbury and Roskilde festivals and invited inevitable comparisons to Mogwai, the Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine.

For this one they put the tours on hold and sculpted these even more ambitious soundscapes, now using Icelandic although most listeners won’t notice the change. It’s their best yet: for one thing, the tracks are shorter and more focussed so that there’s more of a sense of resolve rather than, as occurred on some earlier tracks, giving the idea that studio gimmickry was being used for its own sake instead of serving the music.

Delicate and majestic, using orchestral, choral and percussion overdubs, xylophones and a lot more besides, it’s like being able to experience, in turn, the wonder of the northern lights and the anger of a blizzard.

Sigur Ros are a shoo-in to replace Philip Glass on the next Godfrey Reggio documentary. Fred Muller

Barbara Streisand: Guilty Pleasures

Columbia

Twenty-five years ago Babs and Barry Gibb certainly had nothing to be Guilty of in their first recording. The quarter-century followup, Guilty Pleasures, doesn’t provide many pleasures and should provide both parties with a sense of guilt.

There are two real problems here: the songs and the arrangements. The songs, written by Barry Gibb, mainly in combination with his kids, Ashley and Stephan, are lame. These would be some of the worst, most hackneyed, formulaic songwriting I’ve come across – it sounds as if they used a bad songwriting computer program. Does this mean that it was Maurice who was the talented one in the Bee Gees?

The arrangements are basically as lame as the songwriting, largely being rinky-dink synth background washes. The introduction of 1950s rock’n’roll style horns into Come Tomorrow did make me burst out laughing at the inappropriateness of it!

I’m a big Bee Gees and Barry Gibb fan and enjoyed the earlier Guilty album. But this followup is just awful. Avoid. Michael Jones

Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabete: In the Heart of the Moon

World Circuit Records

Two of Mali’s great musicians, guitarist Ali Farka Toure and kora (21 string gourd harp) expert Tomani Diabete collaborate on an album of music which appears simple and yet is quite mesmerising.

Toure and Diabete hail from different parts of the West African country and so bring different musical backgrounds with them. Toure is known as Mr. Blues (described as an African John Lee Hooker on previous outings) and Diabete - Mr. Kora - is considered to be one of the world’s best players of the instrument.

The album was recorded in three short sessions over consecutive days, and consists primarily of improvised duets (mainly instrumental) of traditional Malian songs from the 50s and 60s that both men were familiar with. There were no rehearsals – simply two talented musicians appreciating each other and playing intuitively and sympathetically with each other. The kora takes the lead on most of the album, with Toure’s guitar providing back up.

Ry Cooder and his son Joachim feature on the album with a number of other guests, but in an unobtrusive manner which allows Toure and Diabete the space to weave their magic.

One to remind you of the beauty and impact of well played acoustic music. Douglas Lang

Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz, and Miskiewicz: Trio

ECM

Imagine you're a golfer and out of the blue you get a call from Tiger Woods to say his playing partners aren't free this week and can you come and play a round. How good would that be? Well these three guys got the jazz equivalent in 1993 when legendary Polish trumpeter Tomas Stanko called Marcin Wasilewski, then only 16 years old, to say he needed a band and did he want in. The rest, as they often say, is history.

Trio is the first major label release for this group, although they've released a number of albums within Poland under the name "Simple Acoustic Trio" and of course they're on two ECM releases with Tomas Stanko. The last Stanko album, Suspended Night struck me as being the most optimistic album that I've ever heard from Stanko and listening to Trio I can see where that feeling came from. No matter if they're tackling a song by Bjork, Wayne Shorter or Stanko himself, or playing one of the four by Wasilewski, or even freely improvising there's a lightness of spirit, an optimistic feel to how they play the music.

Piano, drum and bass trios have been done many times before and will be done many times again. The key to making fresh music within this framework is in the interplay and understanding between the members. This is where Wasilewski, Kurkiewicz and Miskiewicz score big time as they play as one in spirit with an organic feel that is quite remarkable. This isn't an album based about blazing solos, in fact there aren't that many solos. Instead, it’s based around three very talented musicians who know each other wonderfully well. There’s an openness and swing to the music that is sometimes not obvious on ECM releases, which makes this a high quality jazz album that can be enjoyed by a wide range of people.

Regardless of the music played there is a sense of swing and optimism, and having now seen them live (playing with Stanko) my appreciation of their musical talents is even greater. Great musicianship, approachable tunes, beautiful and uplifting – what more could you want from an album? Craig Fenemor

Various: Inspired by Genius… The music of Ray Charles…

EMI

EMI have followed up the Grammy award winning album Genius Loves Company with this new compilation of Ray Charles songs performed by other artists. It’s a little hard not to feel all ‘Rayed out’ after the movie sound tracks and other tributes but if you love R&B then you’re going to love this. Over 50+ years Ray has influenced many performers. This album brings together a selection of Ray’s songs performed by artists over the years from Eddie Cochran to Paul McCartney.

Freddie King sings a smouldering Leave my woman alone, and the Love Sculpture’s rendition of I Believe in Love gives a new perspective on this classic. George Thorogood and the Destroyers deliver their rock-a-billy version of I’m Moving On. The Animals perform The Right Time and Mess Around. Diverse artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Steve Miller and Jools Holland also perform their own special versions of Ray Charles’ songs.

Thankfully these are the original recordings, digitally remastered in some cases, from these artists. Sound quality is variable due to the age of some recordings but generally they are very good. Richard Nelson

Leif Ove Andsnes: Plays Bach and Mozart DVD

EMI Classics DVD PAL 16:9 Stereo/Dolby 5.1/DTS 5.1 48 min music 25 min interview
Lief Ove Andsnes (piano/director); Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

I joined the rest of the world as huge fan of this pianist some years ago. As such I greatly looked to watching this DVD. In the end though, I find it a disappointing experience. Why are the pieces so truncated? We get the last movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.1, the last two movements of Bach’s BWV 1056, the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.9 and the first two movements of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20. Totally bizarre.

While a good introduction to the skills of this most magical of pianists, in the end I feel very short changed. The production is a little quirky with some odd shot choices - the studio footage appears in places to be projected against various outdoor surfaces and filmed. This will go down as ‘one of those good ideas at the time’. Borrow a copy if you can – it’s worth a look. Ownership is another question. Allan McFarlane

Bach: Sonatas and Partitas

EMI Classics
Itzhak Perlman (violin)

As I well remember the first release of these recordings back in 1988 the reissue of these performances in EMI Classics Great Recordings of the Century series makes me feel old! That doesn’t make it any less welcome however.

Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin are mainstay pieces for the advanced violin student that unusually find their way into the professional arena as well. This is due in large part to the commanding and awe inspiring stature of the compositions themselves. Perlman takes what these days is considered a more romantic approach to the works, allowing much more vibrato than a lesser player would get away with today. It can be an issue, but the overall virtuosity is never in doubt, indeed it is simply humbling in places.

The recording is somewhat unusual for this source, somehow larger than life. I have found it useful to turn the volume down and let the music transcend the technology. Play a work at a time, avoiding too much of a good thing, and this will become an undisputed bargain in your collection. Allan McFarlane

Cecilia Bartolli: Opera Proibita

Decca
Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano); Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by Marc Minkowski

The world’s leading coloratura soprano has come up with an interesting project: an album devoted to Italian arias from that brief period in the early 18th century when the Vatican banned opera. Composers resorted to the oratorio to find a vehicle to deliver the more dramatic arias they were now prohibited from writing, all cloaked in a suitable religiously themed oratorio. Bartoli has unearthed some real discoveries, in fact real gems that all her many fans should urgently investigate without hesitation. A virtuoso vocal display the like of which you are unlikely to ever track down again, with a highly refined accompaniment. An amazing discovery. Allan McFarlane

Jacqueline Du Pre: The Very Best Of

EMI

Would you recognise it was du Pre if you hadn’t been told? Wearied of too many bargain-bin concertos with soloists inclined towards self-important and stridently-vented zeal at the expense of sincere restraint and subtlety, you’ll soon pick the true virtuoso at work. There’s scarcely a suspicion of the premeditated crescendo or diminuendo here. Think eloquent elegant crafting and control. Think consummate capacity to tease emotional depth from a line of melody, then to inter-connect and expand that across the half hour span of a concerto – particularly when conductor and orchestra are equally alive in this unity of expression.

The legendary recordings of the Elgar (LSO/Barbirolli ’65) and Dvorak (Chicago SO/Barenboim ’70), generally regarded as the greatest of all cello concertos, are showcased here along with Boccherini’s B flat. The treat, though, is probably the freshness, lucidity and metrical joie de vivre of Haydn’s C major #1 and his ‘missing’ D major #2, which had been discovered in a Prague library six years prior to this recording. The third disc is a ‘recital’ collection of duets with keyboard or strings, which peaks with a sublime Bach adagio (#564).

It’s hard to go beyond the cello. What instrument can more honestly evoke the music of melancholy which pervades the human condition? And who more assured than du Pre to give voice to our self-doubt and reverence? Paul Green

Jonathon Lemalu: Love Blows As The Wind Blows

EMI Classics
Jonathon Lemalu (bass-baritone); Malcolm Martineau (piano); Belcea Quartet.

There was a huge amount of wonderful music written for the trained voice pre-Elvis. This recital contains some of the finest form England and American exquisitely sung by our latest star, the New Zealander Jonathon Lemalu. Each release from this artist reveals additions to his performing biography that announce his now regular performances with the world’s finest orchestras and in some very famous recital halls.

Signed to EMI since his Gramophone winning Debut (EMI’s label to introduce new talent) disc, this disc shows a compelling ease of delivery, an awe-inspiring diction and a total commitment to the composer’s intentions. The recital is varied enough, with the welcome inclusion of two sets (Barber’s Dover Beach and Butterworth’s Love blows as the wind blows) with the equally accomplished Belcea Quartet. Martineau is once again in excellent form, clearly enjoying his roll as much as his outing with his other regular partner, Bryn Terfel. Another huge success for Lemalu. Investigate without delay. Allan McFarlane

Nigel Kennedy: Inner Thoughts

EMI

Maverick maestro strings together a Best Of the inner movements canon. Smart marketing choice, given how many of the prime sublime passages of emotional exploration in classical music evolve during adagios and andantes. It’s billed as “six composers, one perfect mood”, and it’s true that there’s a distinct advantage in the unifying of this selection lying in the hands of one virtuoso performer – too many classical ‘hits’ compilations lack a central creative voice.

And that ‘perfect’ mood is not an overstatement: this is music fit to complement profound moments of international or personal history, times of grieving or wonderment or contemplation. We walk on gilded splinters with Bruch, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Elgar, and step with poise through two Vivaldi larghettos and three by Bach, including the serene largo from the D minor concerto for two violins.

Yet there’s an inherent risk of cramping that comes with the concept: the relentless melancholia hovers persistently on the fringes of over-richness; as one brooding masterpiece after another is passionately realised, we crave the too-fleeting silences in between. Best savoured in episodes of isolation. Paul Green

Arvo Pärt: Lamentate

ECM
The Hilliard Ensemble, Alexei Lubimov (piano), SWR Stuttgart Radio symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrey Boreyko

It is the choral works of Arvo Pärt that have held my attention over the years. His ability to combine early renaissance vocal polyphony with twentieth century harmonies without becoming twee has always made listening to his works an intriguing and often moving experience.

To discover that the main work on this latest CD is on orchestral work with a part for solo piano came as a surprise. What will his scoring for full orchestra bring and just how will he use the piano? The LPO is on excellent form in the beautifully balanced recording, the piano is a featured instrument rather than a solo instrument as in a concerto. A work full a strikingly original ideas, the final result is still somewhat mixed. Lamentate is conceived as his reaction to Anish Kapoor's colossal sculpture Marsyas on display in London's Tate Modern gallery. It is clearly an epic sculpture, and one can easily sense the belittling awe with which the work struck Pärt. His orchestration is highly imaginative, the playing and recording is top draw, yet the almost stationary viewing sense does occasionally outstay its material when heard in isolation at home. All in all a work that does warrant repeated investigation, and a release I am sure I will return to many times.

The beginning of the disc contains a new vocal work titled Da pacem Domine performed by vocal group The Hilliard Ensemble (with soprano Sarah Leonard adding to the vocal colour). What a contrast it makes to what follows. A clearly deliberate move on the part of the producer, the scale of both works (short, long) is highlighted by the desire to increase the stay of the shorter work and edit the longer. Don’t be put off though, Part fans should plunge unhesitatingly. Those new to Pärt would be better off investigating a recent 70th birthday compilation on the Harmonia Mundi label titled Pärt: A Tribute. Allan McFarlane

Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 1 and 2

Decca
Lief Ove Andsnes (piano); Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Antonio Pappano

In so many ways the word for this release is "inspired". Most importantly the idea of combining the superb accompanist and opera conductor supremo in this most lush of repertoire was indeed an inspiration of the highest order. Definitely a project inspired by the live performance of the second concerto (as offered here) the lyrical phrasing and (relative) youthful virtuosity of Andsnes’ playing co0uldn’t have found a better partnership than the always splendid BPO caught in gleefully impact-full recording. A total winning partnership that clearly warrants your urgent attention. Don’t hesitate to duplicate these works into your collection – think of it as an extremely cheap concert ticket – or plunge anew. The perfect introduction to what’s possible in a recorded performance, urgently recommended. Allan McFarlane

Andreas Scholl: Arias for Senesino

Decca
Andreas Scholl (alto); Accademia Bizantina conducted by Ottavio Dantone

For those yet to discover the astonishing voice of Andreas Scholl, you have a real treat in store here. Hailed some years ago as the leading alto (counter-tenor if you like) of the new generation he has gone on to have one of the most illustrious recording careers of any contemporary singer.

This latest release is based around repertoire written for the 18th century superstar known as Senesino. Such were his remarkable abilities that some of the greatest ever arias were composed with him in mind. This disc cleverly combines the well-known (Handel’s Cara Sposa and Dove Sei, amato bene?) with lesser-known arias by Handel, Lotti, Albinoni, A.Scarlatti and Porpora. Scholl has timed his move into a more dramatic style of repertoire perfectly, delivering commanding performances of this often exquisite music. Sample urgently, this is a gem. Allan McFarlane

Trio Mediaeval. Stalla Maris

ECM

Mediaeval music is best thought of as ‘sweet’ – a light and delicious flavour. The Trio Mediaeval is a sugarcoated almond that sits smoothly and satisfyingly in the mouth; dissolving slowly. It is not a sensation for those of us craving a steak barbeque or a Big Mac. It is best savoured languidly after a full meal.

For musicians with a more technical bent, this music is from thirteenth England and France and is built around some delightful experimenting with thirds. There are intriguing harmonies where the voices dance ethereally around each other. The use of three women’s voices is a modern touch, as traditionally women would have been silent in church, but it works almost as well as those sweet young English choirboys. There is plenty of life in this album and a surprising amount of variety is created from a (by modern standards) limited repertoire.

There is a good natural acoustic in this technically perfect recording from ECM. If you have the slightest interest in mediaeval music then this recording is a great place to start and it sounds wonderful on quite modest equipment so it can even calm you at the computer!

If this doesn’t move you then best to hop on your skateboard down to your local take-aways. Otherwise, sit back in your cardigan and slippers, pop in another sweet almond and enjoy. John Groom

Vivaldi: Arie d'Opera

Naive
Modo Antiquo Orchestra directed by Sardelli. Sandrine Piau, Ann Hallenberg, Paul Agnew, Guillemette Laurens

Obsession is a wonderful and under-appreciated quality. Not the stalking-you-at-night-and-living-in-your-crawlspace type of obsession, obviously, but the heroic dedication to a single task. Building a model of the Eiffel Tower out of matchsticks, for example, or growing the world’s largest beard.

For Alberto Basso of the Institutio per I Beni Musicali in Piemonte the relentless drive has been to collect, catalogue and commit to performance, every manuscript written by Vivaldi: over 450 pieces. This features arias written by the composer between 1717 and 1721. Some will be familiar, having taken their place in finished operas; others have never been recorded before and are from Vivaldi’s personal collection.

Matters orchestral are handled by Federico Maria Sardelli and Modo Antiquito, with a performance that befits the archival nature of Basso’s work. It’s more than competent, but just a little middle- of-the-road, lacking some of the stylistic, hyper-vibrance that has become the norm over the last decade.

However, it’s the soloists to whom this collection really owes its place in your CD player. Sandrine Piau manages a quite glorious performance throughout all of her six outings. From Candace, Piau opens the collection in style with Certo Timor Ch’ho in Petto, setting a bold pace with promise that she delivers in spades just a few tracks later in Usignoli che piangete (Nightingale Aria, also from Candace), that flutters and soars like the eponymous bird’s song.

This is not to decry the work of Paul Agnew, Ann Hallenberg and Guillemette Laurens; frankly everyone gets their moment and they all take full advantage of the liberation that comes from performing new works. This is a collection all about truly excellent voices showing what they can do unencumbered by audience preconceptions about the work in question.

The usual difficulty for products of obsession is that they can be very hard for those less interested to enjoy. For lovers of Baroque opera, this is a collection that should not be missed (that should account for… ooh… six or seven sales). But for the less dedicated? Well, maybe. As long as you’re not interested in the sing-along aspect of the usual "Best Operatic Arias – Ever" type of collection you’ll find real insight here. Fine performances of works that really should have been performed a long time ago. Here’s to obsession. Matthew Masters