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April music reviews

Abba: Number Ones

Polar/Universal

And still the Abba revival continues. The best pop band of the late 1970s receives a compilation containing 18 of their biggest hits – songs that reached number one in the charts, somewhere around the world. There are a number of great songs here – Mamma Mia, Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All, Fernando and Waterloo, among others. And, er, Chiquititta. Guess that Abba couldn’t always be great

No single CD can hold all of Abba’s hits – my own home-made compilation has two packed CDs, and even then I needed to leave some songs off. But Number Ones has their biggest hits and so is perfect for the casual Abba fan. The CD is available in two versions, with the second including a bonus CD with twelve “classic tracks from number one albums”.

Sonically, this sounds a bit dynamically compressed and a touch pushed in the upper midrange. But that is what passes for normal CD mastering these days. Michael Jones

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George Benson & Al Jarreau: Givin’ It Up

Concord Jazz

Smooth jazz fans will love this disc as it is 13 easy listening, cruising grooves from its classic Breezin’ start to its Bring on Home To Me finish. Helping on different tunes are major keyboard talents Herbie Hancock, Patrice Rushen, bassists Marcus Miller, Abe Laboriel or Stanley Clarke, and several other jazz notables. Beyond soft treatments of the great Seals and Croft song Summer Breeze and Jill Scott doing Billie Holiday’s signature God Bless the Child, there are also clever vocal treatments for Miles Davis standards Tutu and Four.

Vocalist Al Jarreau does his usual rhythm effect clicks and swish sounds and easily slides in and around all the melodies while Benson’s vocals complement Jarreau’s efforts plus his own tight and tasty jazz guitar licks. Not busy or exciting jazz, but a showcase of excellent interplay and polished execution in a well recorded set. John Paul

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Eric Bibb: Diamond Days

Telarc

Any epiphany is a hard act to follow… whether it is an insight, sporting achievement or musical experience. That is the way I felt about Eric Bibb’s previous release A Ship Called Love. It was full of original, moving and rich blues, and it came with a blessing from that great late blues reviewer, Ken Kessler. Where can you possibly go from there but down? Okay, so Diamond Days isn’t a second epiphany. It is pretty damn good however, and still with plenty of original blues. Don’t you just love the refrain from the title song: “Some days you get diamonds, some days nickels or dimes. Some days life’s a poem, some days nothing rhymes. Some days you’re a winner, some days you lose. Some days all you’re doing is paying the dues.” If this moves you, then this is the album for you.

A Ship Called Love had the advantage of harmonious themes around love, community and hope. Diamond Days is more driven and varied, as you would expect from the refrain above. If you like your blues a bit more on the rocks, with the kind of rhythm section that makes you want to get up and shake your butt, and at other times makes you stop and think… then this album is for you.

As with all Telarc blues recordings it is warmly and clearly produced. To my ears the production under Glenn Scott was a little heavy handed, leaving the album with a more processed feel than the previous one.. Recommended for the keen Blues fan. John Groom

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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: Some Loud Thunder

Wichita Recordings / V2 / Shock

The follow up to indie band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s (CYHSY) self-titled debut album (which I reviewed very positively on its release) is a progression, but I’m hesitant to say it’s a positive step forward.

The album starts with a heavily distorted track, which caused me to wonder if my speakers had developed a fault. They hadn’t – but the track is virtually unlistenable as a result of some ‘interesting’ production, courtesy of Dave Fridmann who has previously worked with Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips.

Things improve from there thankfully, although it’s definitely a darker, denser album than the poppier and ‘up’ feel of the debut.

CYHSY still have an early Talking Heads/Neil Young/Television feel to their vocals (courtesy of Alec Ounsworth). Throughout, there is a sense that things may fall apart at any time. I’m sure this is totally intentional, but makes for a rather loose feel to the album. (I can’t help but think that lots of drugs were involved in the making of this album.)

Sonically CYHSY are quite unique – through a combination of Ounsworth’s vocal stylings; oblique lyrics; a really different approach to song construction; and the inclusion of various unusual noises and effects. Think scratchy guitar; shuffling drums and an eccentric front man.

I much prefer the band’s less complex pieces like Mama Won’t You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning?, which is basically strings, piano and a rolling bass line, topped with the David Byrne-ish vocals. On some of the other tracks the clever production gets in the way a bit too much.

My favourite tracks are the uplifting Underwater (You and Me) where things come together much more coherently – perhaps a bit more like the tracks on the first album and the more upbeat Satan Said Dance which conjured up images of a bunch of mad scientists dancing around on stage making strange electronic noises over the top of a discofied drum and bass pattern.

So, to summarise, CYHSY have made a good attempt at the ‘difficult’ second album and survived – but only just, in my view. Douglas Lang

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Cold War Kids: Robbers and Cowards

Shock Records

This is the debut album by American band Cold War Kids who NME have lauded as America’s Best New Band. Based on the subsequent fate of other bands who have received similar accolades from NME, this may well be a kiss of death for the band.

It’s a bit of a grower. First time through I wasn’t sure at all. However it’s grown on me on subsequent listenings.

Cold War Kids remind me of a number of different people – from Jamiroquai (on the opening track We Used To Vacation which includes some mad guitar work and time changes) to The Veils on Hang Me Up To Dry. Elsewhere I got a whiff of Placebo, Marc Bolan, Gomez and Jeff Buckley. So as you can see there is more than one styl e of music represented here. In some ways that might be the thing that holds me back from really loving this. I so wanted to rave about it, but in the end I’m not sure. There are some interesting tracks like Saint John about a prisoner on death row, and Pregnant where the lead singer adopts a bit of a falsetto, and then there are a few that aren’t so good. Sometimes it sounds like the band is trying to be just a bit too clever.

The album has a bit of a jazz / improvised / bluesy feel to it at times. If you like things a little messed up; and don’t mind some pretty unsubtle time changes then you might just love this.

If you’re not sure then I’d recommend having a listen on a listening post in one of the record stores, or borrowing a copy first. For me the jury is still out on Cold War Kids. Douglas Lang

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Tony DeSare: Last First Kiss

Telarc

“That’s nice, what is it?” said Mrs S after I put this disk on. This is much better than her usual response to my music, which is often to close the door and wander off to some other part of the house.

“I’m not really sure dear, it isn’t really Jazz, perhaps it sounds like a young Frank Sinatra” was my reply. We listened to the disk together for a while before leaving the house to visit friends.

Last First Kiss is a compilation album of thirteen songs, four written by Tony DeSare and the other nine being covers of well known songs from musicians as diverse as Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and, for extra variety, Prince. On listening the key features are Tony DeSare’s clear yet rich voice, piano shared between Tony DeSare and Tedd Frith and guitar from Bucky Pizarelli. Another six musicians round out the ensemble. The songs are split between an intimate grouping of three to four musicians and larger eight to nine musician ensembles.

There is a lot to be said for music that draws couples or groups into the listening area of the house. I would describe the sound as easy listening jazz with a nod to either swing or blues depending on the song. What ever your interpretation, the result is very pleasant to listen to. The compositions are complimented by Telarc’s typically high recording standards giving a gorgeous acoustic air to the instruments. My only gripe is that the notes that come with the CD are sparse and there are four pictures of Mr DeSare and none of the rest of the band! For detail you need to visit the Telarc website, I guess this is a sign of the times. On the positive side, the website has mp3 samples of the beginning of most songs, very helpful if you are undecided about buying it.

This is one of those album’s you listen to and then put on again a day or two later because the tunes are still running through your head. This is jazz with a small “j” and none the worse for it. Matthew Strack

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Dr Feelgood: Down By The Jetty

EMI

Released at the start of 1975, this album served notice on the self-indulgent excesses of the Brit prog rock establishment, cutting a swathe through the prevailing froth of grandiosity with its hard-line rhythm & blues. This collectors edition reissue offers the original so-called ‘mono’ recording (the band refused to stoop to over-dubbing in their search for authentic live studio sound) plus a second stereo mix of the album, along with a handful of previously unreleased bonus tracks.

It’s easy to hear the bugle call for punk rock (or at least The Jam, Blondie and The Ramones) in this rugged monochromatic music. It’s hammering staccato drum/bass rhythm, rasping vocal and scathing caustic guitar – with the only occasional frill coming from singer Lee Brilleaux’s marauding harmonica. And, testament to the enduring power of “more is less”, most of it sounds as fresh, as wildly compelling and as likely to pull the plug on pomposity today as it did three decades ago.

Epitomising the menace and minimalism is the marvellous She Does it Right, dominated by Wilko Johnson’s lacerating guitar work, I Don’t Mind, where the disdain of the barked chorus offsets jagged strumming, and the band’s first single the convulsive Roxette. Songwriter Johnson declares in the liner notes that the band were “doing basically American music”, but mythologizing Canvey Island’s refinery skyline and the B1014 rather than the glamour of the New Jersey Turnpike; it’s an acknowledgment that sums up the honest non-delusional grit of their sound. Paul Green

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Donovan: What’s Bin Did And What’s Bin Hid
Donovan: Fairytale

Sanctuary Records

In a previous issue I wrote about audiophile versions of some Donovan recordings: the sublime Sunshine Superman (one of the best albums of 1966 – and that’s saying a lot) and a compilation mainly based around Donovan’s first two albums from 1965. Those first two albums were reissued on Sanctuary Records a few years back.

Donovan’s first album, What’s Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid immediately showcased an independent spirit. Instead of the usual cheesy cover shot of the time, his first LP cover showed an out of focus guitar head pointing at the viewer. Musically, the album was indebted to the American folk tradition and still showed Donovan establishing his own voice – indeed he sang with an American accent on some tracks. UK commentators, unfamiliar with US folk, noted some similarities with the newly emergent Bob Dylan, incorrectly tarring Donovan with a Dylan-wannabe brush that was undeserved.

Of the twelve tracks on the original LP, Josie and To Sing For You are particularly strong. The four bonus tracks include the single version of Catch the Wind (a different version is on the album) and the single version of Colours (a different version is on his next album).

October 1965 saw the release of his second album, Fairytale. Listening to the two albums back to back shows a remarkable progression in Donovan’s music. Gone was the American accent, replaced with greater imagery and superior songwriting. Highlights include Colours, To Try For The Sun (recently covered by Lindsay Buckingham on his Under The Skin album) and Sunny Goodge Street. Terry Kennedy’s arrangement for the latter, featuring double bass, drums, flute and horn point towards the sound of his next album, 1966's Sunshine Superman.

Bonus tracks with the Fairytale CD include the entire Universal Soldier four-track EP (released August 1965) and the next single after Fairytale, Turquiose and Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness).

Sonically, these two releases don’t come close to the natural sound and ease of the (now out of print) Audio Fidelity compilation Storyteller. However, without a comparison you’d be hard pressed to notice anything wrong with the Sanctuary releases. Michael Jones

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The Good, The Bad and The Queen: The Good, The Bad and The Queen

Parlophone

The latest project involving Blur front man Damon Albarn is a mini supergroup of sorts featuring Paul Simonon (ex Clash bass player), Simon Tong (guitarist with The Verve) and Tony Allen (Afrobeat drummer).

Sonically it’s more Gorillaz than Blur – a series of relatively low key, melodic, slightly sombre pieces with Albarn’s distinctive vocals to the fore. It’s a commentary on London/Britain in the 2000s.

This is an album that benefits from repeat plays. The first couple of times you listen to it, nothing particularly stands out. But a bit of familiarity allows the material to open up and its clear that, without shouting it at you, Albarn has made another album that deserves to be heard.

Tracks of note include Kingdom of Doom and Northern Whale – both nicely driven along by Simonon’s bass and some one finger piano playing. There’s even a bit of a Ray Davis feel to the chorus on Kingdom of Doom.

There aren’t really any bad tracks on the album. It’s something that benefits from being listened to all the way through. Thanks to Damon for another bit of quality. Douglas Lang

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Hiromi’s Sonicbloom: Time Control

Telarc

This album introduces Dave “Fuze” Fluczynski into the Hiromi Trio with interesting results. It adds a whole new dimension to world of Hiromi, the fourth dimension, time. Time control is all about, duh, time and there is even a nod to jazz great Dave Brubeck with a track called Time Out. Unlike Brubeck’s album which was an experiment with unusual time signatures, Time Control is more of a concept album.

The addition of a guitarist has added a whole new sound to this album and this is evident in Time Travel where the guitar and keyboard battle back and forth in a musical conversation. Deep into the Night is the romantic Hiromi of her previous album and this is a nice reprieve from the hectic pace of Time Control.

The quality of this recording is superb and it is released also as a multi-channel SACD. If it is as good as Spiral, and I think it will be, it will be a ‘must have’ for any self respecting surroundphile. Richard Nelson

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Jacques Loussier Trio: The Best of Play Bach

Telarc

I once met a woman who told me that when she was pregnant she had had tremendous cravings for gingernut biscuits and sardines together. While I like both of these foods by themselves, I began to feel a little queasy while listening to the tale. The same feelings can surface when mixing types of music – different styles can work against each other rather than together. Ten years ago I remember wincing as I heard Nigel Kennedy announce that he was going to play a tune by Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze. It did not seem like a good combination to me but once he started playing I was amazed by the performance.

The Best of Play Bach by the Jacques Loussier Trio is another mixture of styles or tastes, in this case, jazz and classical. This hybrid CD/ SACD records almost 30 years of experimenting with these different styles. The result is a great CD/SACD that I really enjoyed and could play from start to finish in one sitting. The result is really jazz with a classical starting theme – nothing wrong with that if done well. The tunes are mostly light with a sense of joy or bubblieness that should have you smiling or at least tapping you toe.

The recordings are from Telarc’s 1993-4 recordings and as such are transferred from older PCM recordings. SACD enthusiasts with a preference for DSD recordings need not worry – the instrument tones – especially the upper reaches of the snare drum and the fullness of the piano are excellent, in fact this disk is easily good enough to demonstrate the benefits of SACD. That is not to say that is not a great CD, just that this recording even better when heard as SACD.

Strongly recommended – perhaps more coffee with chocolate flavours than gingernuts and sardines! Matthew Strack

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Gladys Knight: Before Me

Verve Records

Gladys Knight is one stunning soul singer. She’s in possession of a sweet, husky, intimate kind of voice that sends chills up the spine of this particular soul fan. I rate her right up there with Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfield in her ability to get inside a song and deliver something more palpable than just words and music. I love Knight’s voice so much that I literally begged our astute editor to write this review.

Before Me is Knight’s debut for Verve, with Tommy LiPuma and Phil Ramone handling production duties. The tunes are classic pop/jazz tunes like God Bless The Child and Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me. And… well, um, it’s… okay. Yep, sorry to say it’s just so-so. No amount of Tommy L’s treacle can compensate for the fact that Ms Knight is no jazz singer. That she loves these great old songs is never in question, but she just doesn’t appear to have the vocal technique to handle the material. Certainly given the choice I’ll be pulling out my old Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Dinah Washington versions of these tunes before Gladys Knight gets another look in. Now, where is that old 45 of Midnight Train To Georgia? Darren Watson

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Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris: Real Live Roadrunning DVD

Universal

Like many, I was a little disappointed with last years All The Roadrunning album by Knopfler and Emmylou. Instead of a true collaboration between two of my favourites, it seemed more like The Knopfler Show with Emmylou as a guest.

So I was looking forward to this live concert DVD. At last, thought I, we’d see a true collaboration between the two, in a live context.

Real Live Roadrunning, filmed at concerts after the release of the album, reinforces my misgivings from the CD. It’s Knopfler’s show, with his band – he even proclaims “I have Emmylou Harris in my band!” at one point) – with Emmylou’s role reduced almost to special guest status. The concert even ends with Why Worry, a Dire Straits song, instead of a song from All The Roadrunning.

Still, you can’t argue about the quantity. There are 17 songs and a running time of 158 minutes. It’s filmed in 16:9 and the picture quality is superb and shadow detail in particular is stunning.

If you loved the initial album then you’ll find the DVD a delight. But I can't help but feel that this could have been more. Michael Jones

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Madonna: The Confessions Tour DVD+CD

Warner

The last Madonna album I bought was Ray of Light in 1998, a wonderfully rich sounding electronic album which still regularly gets played if I am testing new equipment. Then again sometimes I just put it on and play it from start to finish. But there is more to Madonna than that, she has reinvented her style over years and this may be part of her enduring appeal. My 15 year old bought her Confessions on a Dance Floor album last year and it often gets played on long trips.

The Confessions Tour album, recorded at Wembley stadium as part of a world tour in 2006 contains both DVD and CD, with over 150min and 70min of music on each respectively. This is a generous package that reaches the limit of each format and also includes DVD bonus features. As would be expected recordings are live and are not as clear as the studio versions usually released. In the case of the CD, I enjoyed the music and it is nice to hear new interpretations of old songs, but generally my verdict was that I would probably rather listen to the Dance Floor album than the Tour CD.

The situation reverses neatly with the DVD – pictures and sound make a great rock combination. For this part I enlisted my 15 year old and 11 year old “co-reviewers”. Big smiles crept over their faces as we turned the music up, this would make a great rock DVD to play at parties. Their verdict: “Madonna is cool”. Favourite tracks included two of the bigger hits from the Dance Floor album: Hung Up and Sorry. Ray of light also gets the live treatment although is only on the DVD not the CD. We listened for about an hour until we were told by other members of the house that: 1.) The music was far too loud and 2.) It was someone’s bedtime.

Verdict: Madonna is cool 3 votes to 0, a great party album. Matthew Strack

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Mercury Rev: The Essential Mercury Rev
Stillness Breathes 1991 – 2006

Few bands have undergone a stylistic transformation as Mercury Rev did with the 1998 release of their near-classic Deserter’s Songs, although its unfairly overlooked predecessor, See You On The Other Side, gave a hint that a change was in the air.

The psychedelic guitar maelstrom of their debut Yerself Is Steam gave way to swooning, ornate melodies. Recognition came from many quarters: Garth Hudson and Levon Helm of The Band contributed – in part because Deserter’s Songs was recorded in the Catskills where Garth and Levon were residing. Britain’s New Musical Express, among many publications, named it the best of the year and it remains my favourite of their six albums.

The first disc is a non-chronological 14-track overview and includes Chasing A Bee, the first track on the debut; swirling guitars, distant vocals from David Baker, a flute and – the moment I keep listening for – about three minutes in it’s as though the door to a raging furnace is forced open. The angelic vocals of Jonathan Donahue adorn most of the remainder among which are Holes and Goddess On A Highway (from Deserter’s Songs) and The Dark Is Rising (from the follow-up All Is Dream). More good news is that the early EP-only track Car Wash Hair is included.

Disc two is a bit of a fizzer: workmanlike covers of Lennon’s I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier, the Beatles’ Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Dylan’s He Was A Friend Of Mine and Neil Young’s Philadelphia are interspersed with poetry readings by the likes of Suicide’s Alan Vega, and three previously unreleased tracks. A note about the booklet: the font size is so small, printed in grey on a black background, that they may as well not have bothered. If we’re meant to glean something here, why not make it legible?

For now Mercury Rev appear to be in a holding pattern: the last three albums are of a piece, Sean “Grasshopper” Mackowiak has released a solo work and former bassist Dave Fridmann has moved on to production duties with the Flaming Lips and Sparklehorse.

This compilation – the first disc, anyway – covers most of the bases. What happens next? Fred Muller

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Stranglers: Suite XVI

EMI

Three of the original four Stranglers make up the current line up. Baz Warne replaces Paul Roberts and before him Hugh Cornwell. However, the essential energy and drive of the Stranglers remains, albeit a more grown-up view of the world. Suite XVI has all the best Stranglers elements such as simple melodies, twisting keyboard melodies and driving beat. The track Spectre of Love is a classic Stranglers song with all these elements. The song Unbroken is typical of the Stranglers approach of delivering a message with a twist, but it is done so cleverly that you would hardly notice. Bless You is the cornerstone of the album delving into the world of a bitter sceptic approaching the end of his life. The album closes with the epic sounding track Relentless, which sends the message that time waits for no one.

Suite XVI is a little angry and cynical but the splendour of the melodies and the counterpoint of guitar and keyboard to the vocal harmonies makes for a compelling listen. Remarkable considering they were one of the more active post-punk bands of the 70s and 80s, the Stranglers, after a string of uninspiring albums have managed to recapture their essence. “Strap on your guitar and we’ll play some rock and roll”. This is the best Stranglers album of the last 20 years. Richard Nelson

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Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Real Deal - Greatest Hits 1

Epic Records

If anyone’s musical corpse has been disinterred and rearranged in public more often than this tiny Texan with great blues chops and appalling taste in clothes I’ll be very, very surprised (Okay, maybe Jeff Buckley’s). Not since the days of that other appallingly clad dead gee-tar hero Jimi Hendrix, have so many “greatest hits” packages featuring “previously unreleased material” been foisted on a gasping public. Guitar magazines feature either Vaughan or Hendrix in seemingly endless rotation… issues after issue… year after year… sigh!

Stevie Ray Vaughan was an astoundingly gifted blues/rock guitar player with a so-so voice and often less than adequate material. (The fact that some of us never noticed how average some of the songs were stands testament to his powers as a guitarist.) This single CD collection spans his short recording career from 1983 to 1989 and features most of the tunes any Vaughan fan would expect to find in a one CD collection. Fun original tunes like Cold Shot and The House Is Rockin’, Guitar Slim’s The Things I Used To Do, and the tune that really shot him to blues super stardom, his version of Larry Davis’s Texas Flood, sit in marked contrast to the distinctly mediocre Come On (Part 3), and Life Without You. I was left wondering how they could possibly have included these relative turkeys in the context of the strangely absent Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), Vaughan’s homage to Hendrix that turned many a head back in the mid-eighties?

The Real Deal - Greatest Hits 1 might be a good place to start if all you desire is a snapshot of what this great guitarslinger was all about. For many people I suspect this will be all the Stevie Ray Vaughan they will ever want or need?

For the Vaughan obsessive? There’s nothing new here… move along. Darren Watson

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Various: Putumayo Presents A New Groove

Putumayo

It’s the customary Putumayo world music world of “fresh” cross-cultural currents and blurred musical boundaries – this time with the accent on swingy chilled electro pop that variously or sometimes simultaneously samples big band brass, salsa, reggae, trip-hop and so on. There’s an eased accessibility, (others might call it blandness), about the whole thing, with the emphasis unanimously on understatement and subdued striking of cool-note jazz-inflected attitude. Lyrics allude to such staples as defying the omnipresent oppression of conformity, finding your soulmate, or (alternatively) abandoning yourself to salacious instincts. And, naturally enough, performers’ bio credentials must have street cred too; though who out there is going to surpass Bajka whose “worldly” voice, we’re advised, derives from being born in an Indian temple and then raised in Afghanistan, Nepal, Pakistan and on a catamaran in South Africa? (Never was time for suburbia in this genre).

Credit for most distinctive sounds goes to The Cat Empire’s The Lost Song and the ever-adept Thievery Corporation with guest chanteuse Emiliana Torrini presiding over a rich-veined re-mix of Until the Morning. Most of the rest trickles towards “competent-but-so?” territory. Paul Green

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Various: World Circuit Presents…

World Circuit

Opting for, as a double album opener, a re-run of Chan Chan from that modern monolith of world music chic The Buena Vista Social Club is as ambiguous as it is auspicious: still alive and well as over-familiar taste-straddling wallpaper for suburban soirees, but still alluring and lithe, imposing in its poetry and fearless pride. Time-worn or timeless? In pursuit of the latter, we’re consigned to frequent wallowing in a surfeit of the former. But whilst there are occasional slips into listlessness, this album rarely relents in its capacity to grip or galvanise.

In fact there are more than a handful of performances here that comfortably qualify for that touchstone status of timelessness. The Afro Cuban All Stars stride in maestro conquistadorial style through a rousing hip-swivelling delivery of Amor Verdadero; Ali Farka Toure is a revelation, first with Ry Cooder on the lilting pointedly-picked Soukoura from Talking Timbuktu and then in Herculean mode in a sweeping previously unreleased electric blues, Amandrai. Elsewhere there are extensive passages of sweetly blown restraint, of gusto, of under-played expansiveness – conjuring glimpsed images of fiesta, bazaar, opium den or tribal ceremony.

There is true variety here: subtlety, swagger, and luscious elegance - and, in an era of endless eclectic but disjointed samplers, a convincing fluency that draws you back for more. Paul Green

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