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Pop and Contemporary Music

Jocelyn Pook - Flood
Virgin Records CDVE 7243-8-48150-2-8 Reviewed by RG
Jocelyn Rook may be flavour of the month, what with her contribution of original music to Kubrick's lust cinematic outing, Eyes Wide Shut, but her thoughtful and original style deserves longer term appreciation. Whilst Flood seems destined to perform as aural wallpaper at the smartest lslington dinner parties, it deserves a better fate than five minutes of fame amongst the intellectually risqué (the ones who decry pornography but get all the 'art' they can). Hers is a music of pattern and texture, woven from the diverse sources of the Middle Eastern and Indian oral traditions, the medieval church, and English classical string music from the early twentieth century. For cement she's not afraid to turn to electronic keyboards, along-side psaltery and renaissance percussion. And if the songs eschew the dynamic shifts and rhythmic insistence that typify modern pop, their constantly shifting surface draws you in, washing your mind the way their religious donors intended. Whether this is simply clever, or contains a deeper intelligence only time will tell, but there's a lot more here than the remains of Sticky Toffee Pudding and sly fantasies about Nicole Kidmans bits. Rather like the film, a lot of people will buy this for the wrong reasons. Perhaps it will convert a few.

Richard Thompson - Mock Tudor
Capitol 7243 4 98860 2 5 Reviewed by DA
Richard's albums should come with the following warning stickers: 'Beware genius at work' and 'Budding guitarists despair' To paraphrase Bowie, 'Boy, can he play guitar', only you're not going to find some big-haired axe-god twiddling away for ten minutes at a time. Every interjection or solo is carefully concise. Less is more and for Richard the tune is the thing. Rating alongside Shoot Out The Lights as some of his best work since leaving Fairport Convention, Mock Tudor is a chance to spit venom at suburbia and the way it disenfranchises the soul. I know a lot of people find it hard to get to grips with Thompson's singing, yet his is one of the most expressive male voices in rock today, and well worth the effort. On 'Sights And Sounds Of London Town' the production brings him into your living room, making you his confidante. That the seamy underbelly of Ralph McTell's 'Streets Of London' should seem to be sung right next to you on your sofa simply adds to the chilling effect. With so many standout moments on the CD I simply don't have the space to describe them alt. Buy the CD and if you can, see him live while he's stilt touring with the band. Essential.

BlS - Social Dancing
Wiiija Records WIGLP1058 Reviewed by JH
If you were being harsh you would describe this album as bubble gum pop and dismiss it out of hand. That would be making a mistake. This album is good clean(ish) fun. Pop-punk for the thinking person. No band ever suffered for having an attractive female front-person (?), and in this case she alternates the vocal delivery with the two guys, not just song to song, but verse to chorus or verse to verse. Largely electronic with a smattering of orchestral shading, it all adds up to a pleasing result with abundant hooks and tunes, and a real sense of performance. Production is clean clear and straight forward, which suits the songs, preventing their overt simplicity getting lost in the mix. Lyrically they are deeper than a cursory listen implies. For example, what at first seems to be a song about shopping is a dark description of a woman who is allowed no free will in a totally possessive relationship. That superficial naivety wanes as the album progresses, leaving you with a darker and more complex, almost Portishead feel. These slower songs bear deeper listening, but don't let that put you off. Go on, have some fun. Give it a go.

Everything But The Girl - Temperamental
VIRGIN CDV 2892 Reviewed by RP
Ben and Tracey have come a long may since their youthful emergence on the Cherry Red Label back in 1981, and (to those of us who've travelled with them) this latest album confirms that the movement towards song-based dance is now complete. Todd Terryis 1994 remix of 'Missing' on Amplified Heart may well have been the unexpected hit that started it all, but its Thorn's distinctive, often haunting, lead vocals which make her such a success in the role of simmering clubbed Diva. Older fans (alas, me included) could have problems with these extremely formulaic, bigger-sounding, beat/buss textures (and for that matter the dance steps to go with them!) yet the duos songwriting remains as strong as ever. Its focal point is still Tracey's voice and her ability to clothe a lyric in emotion: "Soho in the high tide of the day and for a while I'm swept away.... inside out in the daytime, wrong at the right time, Outside in the night time, right at the wrong time..., when you're down troubled you don't tell your friends" ('Low Tide of the Night') might be too wordy for the clubs? But then she is so well served by editing, mixing, recording and overall production values that Temperamental stands up well to the closer scrutiny of home.

Apollo Four Forty - Getting High On Your Own Supply
Epic SSX3440CD Reviewed by DA
Last year's Lost In Space soundtrack was an absolute belter, and the theme tune, reworked from the third season of the TV series, was one of the outstanding tracks. 'Lost In Space (Theme)' reappears on this CD, as does the recent hit 'Stop The Rock'. The latter, based around a Status Quo guitar riff, features Mary Mary on vocal duties. Whilst not the greatest singer in the world, his contribution here and on a number of other tracks provides the band with a much needed focus. Couple this with the increased amount of rock guitar, and the band gains an edge over previous outings. 'Cold Rock The Mic' sounds like it has sampled Jimmy Page circa Houses Of The Holy for the guitar motif, and is as down and dirty as Apollo 440 get. Throughout the length of the CD, the tracks move from space rock to space dub, and thence to the chillout room, which is to say it starts with a bang but fades away at the end. If Ozric Tentacles were Hawkwind for the dance generation, then Apollo 440 are millennium Hawkwind, and much like the current Doctor Who, they may not he the same but it's good to know they're out there.

Paula Cole - This Fire
Warner Bros 9362-46424-2 Reviewed by RP
Vocalist on Peter Gabriel's Secret World Live Tour; a seven-time Grammy nominee with 'This Fire', and the 1998 winner of the "Best New Artist" award, Paula Cole has a devastating talent. Many will recognise the successful; single 'Where Have all The Cowboys Gone?', but what really excites me are the jazz-based improvisation techniques used in this remarkable blend of rock, folk and pop. It's clear from songs like 'Mississippi' and 'Throwing Stones' that Cole's voice has tremendous elasticity. Her rapid changes of pace, the shifts in tone, pitch, key and weight of emphasis can capture the imagination as effectively as the hardest-hitting lyric. "I've got a piece of my heart on the sole of your shoe" (Mississippi) or "So call me a bitch in heat and I'll call you a motherfucker!" (Throwing Stones) are fiery and passionate. Yet, one moment the delivery is angry and full-blooded, the next, it's a breathless extemporisation stripping away at the words. Quite the contrast to a gentle, intoxicating love song like 'Carmen' which separates these two tracks. There's slick support playing by Jay Bellerose (drums), Tony Levin (bass), Greg Leisz and Gerry Leonard (guitars), plus it's a nice touch having Gabriel as the guest vocalist on 'hush, hush, hush'. The recording of all eleven songs is very good, with a heavy emphasis on that amazing larynx.

Jethro Tull - Dot Com
Roadrunner Records RR 8615-2 Reviewed by DA
Oh deary deary me, what are you doing guys? Can this really be the same group that produced Stand Up, Aqualung, or Broadsword And The Beast. I find this CD very frustrating. There's potential lurking under the surface of most of the songs here, but no fire, and no enthusiasm. If Spinal Tap played with their amps at eleven "cos it's one louder than ten", then Tull are stuck on one. Nothing on Dot Corn would frighten a hamster, bet alone the neighbours. Take 'El Nino' which for me is the best track here. Lead guitarist Martin Barre is having a go - riffing away like a good 'an, but he's so far down in the mix that all the impact is lost. I don't subscribe to the 'Too Old To Rock And Roll, Too Young To Die' point of view, but on the evidence of this album Ian Anderson has been listening to this 70's song of his a little too much. Tull's previous outing Roots To Branches, although fairly considered, had a lot to recommend it. What a pity I cannot say the same about Dot Com. My girlfriend said 'it's quite pleasant', something that should make Tull ashamed. Celine Tull anyone?

Vika and Linda - Two Wings
Mushroom, MUSH332342 Reviewed by AH
Now, it's not everyday you get to review an album by a couple of Tongan sisters - mind you, I have to say that in this instance it's very much my pleasure. Vika and Linda Bull cut their musical teeth as backing singers with the Black Sorrows, a fabulous Van Morrison influenced Australian band led by the multi-talented Joe Camilleri. There they stayed for six years, garnering rave reviews for their passionate gospel tinged singing, often taking over the lead vocals from Camilleri and giving The Sorrows another dimension to their music. Two Wings is the third album by the sisters and their finest yet. The album kicks off with a cover of Mahalia Jackson's 'I'm on my way', Vika and Linda's vocals melting together beautifully on this lovely gospel number. The Solomon Burke classic 'Home in your heart' is given a faithful rendition by the sisters before we reach one of the album's highlights, 'Gods Little Birds'. Vika gives this one all she's got, with a vocal to match any of Etta James' finest moments. Archie Roaches 'Reach For You' is given the torch song treatment from Linda. Every time I hear this song I'm reminded of how at home it would sound on KD Lang's marvellous 'Shadowland' album. There you have it - conclusive evidence that Tonga has much more to offer than just a bunch of muscle-laden rugby players.

The Presidents of the USA - Pure Frosting
COLUMBIA 489 702 6 Reviewed by RP
What a fitting epitaph to these crazy punk - influenced rockers who after four years in the White House felt that a second term was well beyond them, and so chose to disband instead. That was back in December '97, and by then they'd proved it was possible to build a career around eccentricity and inanity. To that end this "posthumous" disc - a compilation of live, single and b-sides - is symbolic. Bristling with energy, Pure Frosting develops an unpretentious, wry sense of humour from the banalest of topics. Don't bother looking for "higher truths" or "deeper meanings", there are none. There simply is no subtext. The mundane is dignified by writing and recording an album about it. That's the joke. Play it for laughs - the Presidents did for years. 'Love Delicatessen', with its obvious food/sex theme and threadbare innuendo, is probably the band's intellectual high point, while a tambourine/ guitar parody of born-again Christianity in 'Sunshine', coupled with the happy-clappy refrain of "Your the One… Your the sunshine", might just be an all-time low! Recording quality, as expected, varies throughout. Live tracks like 'Lump' are acceptable; the studio mixes including: 'Love Deli', 'Teenage Girl' and a terrific (if rather meaningless) riff-laden cover of 'Video Killed The Radio Star' are a whole lot better.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Street Survivors
MCA MCAD 11535 Reviewed by AH
During the 70's, there were a host of fine, guitar-driven southern bands around - The Allmans, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet - but out on their own were Lynyrd Skynyrd, the greatest, wildest and hardest Iivin' band of them all. What Skynyrd had in abundance were great songs. For many, Street Survivors was their finest studio album but sadly, also their last. Whilst out promoting the album, the plane taking the band to their next gig crashed in the Florida swamps, killing singer Ronnie Van Zandt, recent acquisition Steve Gaines and his sister Connie. Gaines' contribution to Street Survivors was a revelation, his songwriting skills and fluid, bluesy guitar playing giving a new dimension to Skynyrd's sound. Many of the highlights on the album were written or co-written by Gaines, from the country honky tonk of 'I Know a Little' to the full on boogie of 'You Got That Right', but the best track is the album's closer, the sadly prophetic 'Ain't No Good Life' where Gaines' lyrics were to take on a whole new meaning. They hit home hard, Gaines snarling 'I'm gonna get myself together / gonna try a dying attempt'. Skynyrd left a legacy of great albums but none were as consistently brilliant as Street Survivors, a five star feast of the finest southern rock n' roll your money can buy.

Gomez - Liquid Skin
Virgin HUTDLP54 Reviewed by JH
Gomez' Bring it on won the Mercury prize and went straight into my top-ten LP list. It won't surprise you that this was a very eagerly awaited second album. Does it live up to the expectation? YES, and how. The new LP is a predictably strange mix of sounds and influences from all over, using more synthesisers than the first, and it's a bit funkier. If you try to analyse this album you'll wonder how on earth it works, but boy does it. Full of complexity, they have a style of their own simply because they embrace so many others. Pace is varied and the band show a superb sense of musical timing that allows this all to work. Cuts and overlays act as a bit of a shock, but they always add more to a song. After listening to this album you begin to think they are the only original performers around at the moment. Quite a heavily produced LP it still retains the close band feel that Gomez create so well, and sound quality is high. If this band continue like this they could become a major influence, and that would be the very best thing that could happen. A MUST BUY!

Pavement - Terror Twilight
Domino Records WIGLP66 Reviewed by JH
Pavement are oft cited by Damon Album of Blur as his biggest influence.., no wait ... come back.... they really are good. A guitar and drums band, they are characterised by excellent songwriting and an awful singing voice, the rarely rhyming lyrics always being complex. They can rock with the best but they seem to prefer to prowl around the edges of orthodoxy. This, their fifth album, is the most accessible to date, but never get the idea this is easy listening. The band frequently explodes into distortion and drums, or weird samples and random noise with no rhyme or reason. Its like they are continually trying new sounds and one day something amazing will happen, just not quite yet. Production and mixing is much more complex than their norm (they even used a desk!) and this has reduced the impact and watered down the extremes. Many people will prefer this, but not me, as I particularly enjoyed the edgy live feel of the previous albums. In many ways this LP marks maturation for Pavement, and will be their most economically successful to date. I like it a lot so check this (and their back catalogue) out.

Mark Lanegan - I'll Take Care Of You
Beggars Banquet/Sub Pop BBQCD 215 Reviewed by JM
For his fourth solo outing. Mark Lanegan, former lead singer with Seattle miserabilists, The Screaming Trees - and erstwhile buddy of Kurt Cobain - embarks on that mainstay sabbatical of the singer/songwriter, the cover versions album. As with other such efforts - David Bowies Pin Ups, Nick Cave's Kicking Against The Pricks - I'll Take Care of You can be read as a catalogue of influence and inspiration for the artist concerned. But unlike those two albums - and as befits the US indie/alternative archetype - the songs covered are largely uncelebrated examples of the obscure songwriters art. So Lanegan the cult figure interprets the songs of other cult figures. Which is apt, at the very least. We open with Jeffrey Lee Pierce's (The Gun Club) 'Carry Home' (nothing to do with takeaway beer) reduced to exquisitely picked acoustic guitar and vocal, and end with Tim Rose's (best known as the writer of 'Hey Joe') 'Boogie Boogie'. In between, accompanied by tasteful, spare arrangements, Lanegan's lugubriously atmospheric baritone wraps itself round a fine selection of country, blues and gospel-tinged narratives of love, loss and redemption. Especially recommended to admirers of Messrs. Cave, Cohen and Waits.

The Experimental Pop Band - Homesick City
Slang 08721-11 Reviewed by JH
This is the second album from this Bristol band. Fronted by ex-Brit Popper Davey Woodward, they have realised that jingly-jangly guitars just aren't enough for success or respect in the late 90's (to be honest only the music press ever thought they were). A four man band, they make use of synthesisers and acoustic instruments with effects added to a familiar spoken vocal that has an almost Beat poem feel. Lyrically they are observationalists and not a little pessimistic (the glass would always be half empty). They make the lyrics and the music work well together though, providing plenty of atmosphere. Songs aren't all of a single beat, but are rhythmically complex with plenty of gently trippy sounds underpinned with a strong bass line. The many instruments individually repeat simple tunes and riffs, but through layering and clever shifts in tempo and position, a complex whole is produced. These songs often reminded me of Herbie Hancocks output and his complex instrumental soundscapes. I can only assume he was a big influence. All in all a well-produced album with fine sound quality, they are experimental enough to be interesting and this album is definitely worth buying.

Breakbeat Era - Ultra Obscene
XL Recordings XLCD130 Reviewed by JM
Ever since the base metal of Jungle transmuted into the silver of Drum'n'Bass, it has become either blander and more "coffee table", or more sophisticated and subtle, depending on your point of view. The meandering jazz-lite of Roni Size/Reprazent's Mercury Award-winning New Forms exemplified the progression. Perhaps realising that, if this technique progressed any further the music would become so evanescent as to disappear altogether, Size has changed tack. In collaboration with fellow Bristol scene figures DJ Die and singer Lennie Laws, he now brings us Breakbeat Era. For all intents and purposes a return to Jungle, Ultra Obscene is a hard and funky album, as close in spirit to punk as Reprazent was to jazz. The origins of Jungle as a chemically, rather than herbally, induced dub reggae can be followed here, too. Massive, rib-rattling frequencies form into looped dub basslines to drive the songs. The percussion - which in early jungle tended to sound like somebody kicking an abandoned shopping trolley down a heavily-graffiti'd concrete staircase in Tower Hamlets - is calmer, more direct, but the Breakbeats retain a funky complexity. The analogue synth and spare, effective, samples combine with Lennie's breathy, punk-diva vocal in caverns of dub-style reverb and we are carried away.

Hole - Scrapping Foetus Off The Wheel
SOME BIZZARE/SELFIMMOLATION WOMB FDL3 LP Reviewed by RP
The post-apocalyptic punk nightmare.... a world of pain, distress, deformity and hatred. Twisted humanity and humanity twisted. 'Water Torture', 'Sick-Man'. Incisive words (and songs) that cut to the viciousness and worst excesses in a Century of failed ideologies now numbered in rotting corpses - six million of them in 'I'll Meet You in Poland, Baby'. Hole is a charnel house, but this album is simply not just another horror-flick shocker painting a picture in bodies and blood. Instead, there's something of the B-Movie classic about it. J.G. Thirlwell's ironic and intelligent songs (dare I say it) possess a depth of humour which given their context may seen incongruous. Lines like 'I'm knock, knock, knock, knockin' on death's door, do you remember where you've seen this cadaver before' ('Satan Place') are backed by the band in a wild parody of Beach Boys harmonies! Scrappie's vision is still The Waste Land inhabited by disease-ridden creatures "overcome by waves of lechery" (Sick-Man) whose "Profile of Neanderthal/leaves his debris in the hull. His victim screams - he has a ball" has an unnerving echo of Eliot's Sweeney Erect. A deeply troubled and troubling landscape, then, that's definitely not one for the squeamish. Yet, of its kind, Hole is shockingly effective.

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - Spanish Dance Troupe
Mantra Recordings MNTCD 1015 Reviewed by JM
The unpronounceable in full pursuit of the ineffable, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci have been regaling us with their peculiar Welsh psychedelia since 1993. Things were going quite well until Mercury dumped them last year for the heinous crime of showing a bit of imagination. (This merely tells us what we already knew about major record labels' preference for the simpering cash cow over the artist of flair and originality. Maybe this is not the place to discuss the shame-ful iniquities of the music business in these times of rampant capitalism, but there you have it.) So, free to do as they wished, they recorded their sixth album - ironically enough - their most commercial to date, and released it independently. A collection of songs which seem to find inspiration in the Van Dyke Parks/Brian Wilson sphere of American curiosity. Lilting, twanging odes perhaps best described as 'organic/futurist' give way to C&W style statements, innocent piano ballads, brass band arrangements, lachrymose violin and Mariachi horn sections, with lyrics for the most part telling plaintively of lost love. The most extraordinary item here is 'Poodle Rockin'' a parodic glam-fest which sounds like The Butthole Surfers rewritten by Chinn & Chapman and is horribly, grotesquely beautiful.

Katie Webster - No Foolin!
Alligator ALCD 4803 Reviewed by AH
Katie has been affectionately described as 'an innuendo laced barrelhouse pianist', a truly saucy performer with a two fisted boogie woogie style and a larger than life persona. In her early years she caught the ear of a young Otis Redding. Impressed by what he heard, Otis made her his opening act for 3 straight years, Katie playing keyboards in his band and duetting with him on live versions of 'Tramp'. The innuendo side of her character is very much in evidence on album opener ' A Little Meat On The Side', as is her fabulous rambling piano style. C.J. Chenier's accordion blends perfectly with Katie's boogie woogie piano to create a distinctly Mardi Gras feel to 'Zydeco Shoes And California Blues', while Katie shows a healthy appetite for sex on the rather naughty 'Hard Lovin' Mama'. Webster proves herself to be a fine, soulful singer especially on the plaintive 'It's Mighty Hard', a song about trying to get through this life all alone, and her band get all funky on 'Tangled In Your Web', the superb horn section fattening the sound considerably and guitarist Vasti Jackson digging out the earthiest of solos. Sadly, Katie Webster died from heart related problems on September 5th of this year, aged 63. She was one of the blues most colourful and exuberant characters and will be greatly missed.

Supergrass - Supergrass
Parlophone 7243 5 22056 1 5 Reviewed by JH
When most people think of Supergrass its probably that famous lyric, "we are young, we are free, keep our teeth nice and clean ..." and that the lead singer is pretty simian in appearance, but they are better than this, and with this album they have proved it. Typical pop-rock instruments plus a few strings produce plenty of hooks and it's all easy to sing along with, like all the best pop music. A varied album, appropriately Monkey-esque at times, it has shades of Crowded House and further back, the Beach boys or Sgt Pepper era Beatles, all influencing the outcome, although where Pink Floyd come in I'm not entirely sure! Thankfully the swirling hypnotic sections don't meander as far or for as long as the Floyd's excesses. Pace is also varied. They can slow it down for effect without losing the plot, and this allows another dimension in depth and power to be created. Not the greatest recording, due to the compression the sound turns into a wall of noise when things get too busy, but this is par the course. Some will inevitably compare Supergrass to the Beatles which is unfair. They succeed by being fresh and different enough while acknowledging and using plenty of good quality influences. Good luck to them I say.

Leftfield - Rhythm and Stealth
Hard Hands/Higher Ground HAND4CD Reviewed by JM
Rhythmical? Beyond question. Stealthy? Well... something which contains any amount of banging, four-to-the-floor hardcore techno could hardly be described as stealthy, really. However, we pay Leftfield for their sonic mastery rather than their accuracy with English and they seem to have earned their wedge this time around. They took their time. It's four years since Leftfield's debut, Leftism -recently declared 'Greatest Dance Album of All Time' in a poll of top DJs - took the world by storm. It's said that this delay was due in part to their being 'wracked with doubt' as to their ability to follow Leftism with reputations intact. Unsurprisingly, Rhythm & Stealth is not as fresh, immediate and original as it's predecessor - how could it be, when we heard the other one first? They continue to plough a furrow which is broad enough to allow them to get away with it. The Leftfield mission statement, if they had one, might read, "Interpreting disparate dance selections with the aid of interesting vocalists, transcending fashion and turning up the bass." But the sound has been pared down, there is far less grandiosity and no pretensions toward bring "a Pink Floyd for the 90s". The dub/hiphop/ambient/hardcore /techno/jungle/hard house is clean and direct. The "cathedrals of sound" have become Methodist chapels.

Patti Smith - Horses
Arista 07822 188272( 20-Bit digital re-master) Reviewed by JM
Horses is generally regarded as one of the finest rock albums ever. When Patti Smith landed among the mid-seventies milieu of tired, muddled glum and bloated, decaying pomp-rock, she was an extraordinary presence. In her own words, "a human alarm clock, shouting Wake up! Wake up!". Produced, with characteristic artistry by John Cale, and recorded, for symbolic reasons, at Electric Ladyland, her debut collection finds Patti transformed from New York Art-loft poetess to rock'n'roll singer. The opener 'Gloria (In Excelsis Deo)', a rewrite of the Them classic, is an example of the way Patti elaborated upon and gave new resonances to past standards. It was jazz reasoning applied to punk instrumentation and style. Later, after the epic Land trilogy, featuring a reworking of the 'Land of a Thousand Dances' - where bubblegum is transmuted into art - comes the short plaintive, 'Elegy' (to Jimi Hendrix). Between these gateways of the soul are a series of shamanistic exorcisms in song form. Multi-tracked, she declaims two lines simultaneously, sings of private demons in slurred tones of possession. The garage guitar of Lenny Kaye scratches, scrapes and chimes and the distinctive bebop piano of Richard SohI provides a melodic backdrop for her marvellous, obsessive lyricism.

Robbie Robertson - Robbie Robertson
Geffen Records 924160-2 Reviewed by AH
For this celebrated debut solo album by the enigmatic guitarist from The Band, Bobbie Robertson assembled some of the most respected musicians in the world. A single heartbeat is the intro to album opener 'Fallen Angel', a beautiful tribute to the memory of ex-Band member Richard Manuel and featuring Peter Gabriel on keyboards and backing vocals. Robertson has a whispered vocal style (imagine a singing version of Radio 2's Bob Harris and you're getting close), and it's this voice along with Daniel Lanois' superb production that gives this album a lovely ethereal quality. Perfect examples of this are 'Broken Arrow' and the half-spoken I half-sung 'Somewhere Down The Crazy River', the album's tour-de-force, where Robertson uses the recording studio to paint glorious scenes of escapism and hot sweaty nights with his haunting vocal, ably assisted by Daniel Lanois' restrained guitar and Manu Katches' rhythmic drumming. U2 lend their considerable weight to 'Sweet Fire Of Love' and the gospel tinged 'Testimony', whilst 'American Roulette' receives heavyweight backing vocals from the Bodeans and Maria Mckee Add first class recording quality and a street price of under a tenner to all of the above and you've got yourself one mother of an album and an absolute bargain to boot.

Sandy Dillon - Electric Chair
One Little Indian TPLP205 Reviewed by JM
Sandy Dillon, an American chanteuse living and working in London is a self-styled purveyor of "modern blues". She studied jazz and classical composition at the renowned Berklee School of Music and paid her dues - as they used to say but don't seem to anymore - performing in the 52nd Street piano bars of New York City whilst residing (of course) at the legendary Chelsea Hotel. She later played both Janis Joplin and the chainsaw -wielding punk goddess Wendy O. Williams in the same Broadway musical. She therefore has pedigree. Beneath a cover shot which makes her look like a nun recovering from a bout of demonic possession in Ken Russell's movie The Devils, we find a strange and eerie music. It is blues, Jim, but not some know it. Not unless we listen hard to Tom Waits' more recent recordings, anyway. Whilst there is an obvious debt to Waits in the scraping, clanking percussion and sinister desert atmospherics, there are also shades of Morricone, Beefheart, Polly Harvey and Diamanda Galas in these songs. From fractured field-holler to ambient blues moan - taking in a convincing Bessie Smith homage on the way - this is an organic sound, grown from demon seed planted in the body of a rusted-out Dobro guitar.

Jazz Music

John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman
Mobile Fidelity MFSL UDCD 740 Reviewed by DD
Recorded in '63 with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones, this is Coltrane's only recording with a vocalist. Hartman was very much Coltrane's choice, and the 'big voiced crooner' brings out the lush romantic side of 'Trane's playing. Hartman has a particularly big-toned, velvety texture to his voice, like Nat King Cole on steroids, which with strings would be just too much. Fortunately 'Trane's toughness comes across and brings a balance to the whole experience, the one setting off the other perfectly, that makes this a very special recording. Featuring six standards, the performances are so consistent that there are no standout tracks. Everything is of equally high calibre. If pushed, I'd choose 'Lush Life' as my favourite, but that's just because I love the song anyway. Three tracks including 'Lush Life' feature sax phrases overdubbed by 'Trane at a later date, although this isn't obvious. Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, originally for Impulse, Hartman's centre stage with good presence, with McCoy Tyner stage left and Coltrane right. Stage depth is a tad restricted but otherwise it's an excellent recording. The only drawback is the paltry running time at under 32 minutes.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Rob Wasserman - Trios
Mobile Fidelity MFSL UDCD 752 Reviewed by DD
The follow-up to Duos (available from Alto on 180g vinyl) this album again assembles an eclectic mix of Star guests to team up with Wasserman's acoustic and electric bass. The guest list ranges from Brian Wilson to Neil Young to Branford Marsalis to Elvis (Costello that is, it's not that eclectic!). I can't imagine that this line up will appeal equally to all, which means that most of us will be dusting off the skip function on our remotes. That said, when it's good it's very good. There's a great throwaway Costello number 'Put your big toe in the milk of human kindness' a bizarre number from Willie Dixon 'Dustin' off the bass' featuring Dixon on electric upright string bass sparring with Wasserman. 'Fantasy is Reality / Bells of Madness' features fine vocals from Carnie Wilson backed by her dear old dad who can still cut it in the chorus department. Throw in a few instrumentals, a so-so version of 'Easy Answers' featuring Neil Young and Bob Weir, and a god awful improvisation with Edie Brickell & Gerry Garcia whose title says it all: 'American Popsicle', and that's about it. Recording quality is fine, warm toned with (surprisingly enough) the basses portrayed with real body and presence.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

The Hot Club of San Francisco - 'The Lady in Red'
Clarity Recordings CCD-1019 Reviewed by DD
Put all thoughts of Chris de Burgh out of your head, it's not that sanity-threatening abomination. Now consider whether you like the music of the Hot Club of France. Yes? You'll love this album. No? Well, how about the very wonderful Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, yes? You'll love this album, If relaxed swing with a wry sense of humour appeals, this is for you. With laid back vocals, which include Maria Muldaur in very fine form on 'Lover Man', and an even more splendid Mr Hicks in the aptly chosen 'Everything Happens to Me', the album is guaranteed to warm the cockles of any caring soul's heart. A 'live to two track' recording captured on a Tim de Paravicini modified Ampex MR-70, the sound is very natural and unprocessed. Vocals, which aside from the aforementioned two include Barbara Dane, are particularly real and 'in the room'. Fine details such as sax fingerwork and fingers on guitar frets arc nicely captured, and this, along with the unforced feel of a real room acoustic, makes the whole experience very enjoyable. A perfect 'Sunday morning' album and I mean that as a compliment!
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Clifford Jordan - Live at Ethell's
Mapleshade 56292 Reviewed by DD
This is the first Mapleshade release that's come my way, and what a treat it is. There's an unforced musicality to this recording that, more perfectly than most, captures the feeling of a live performance. I guess, to be strictly correct, I should say 'live performances' since the album was recorded over three nights in Baltimore in '87. The album runs through a number of standards, and includes Jordan's surprise vocal recording debut, when to the dismay of the engineer and the delight of the audience, he picks up the sax mike to sing 'Lush Life'. I'm delighted this was included since it simply adds to the spontaneity and 'you are there' effect of the very natural, spacious recording. The band are tight as a wild fowls sphincter and every nuance of their playing, from whispery quiet passages to straight ahead blowing is nicely captured. So too are spontaneous shouts of encouragement from the audience which on at least one occasion made me look around to see who'd joined me in the listening room. With the exception of one or two slightly over-extended drum solos (i.e. over 10 seconds!), this is a beautifully played very nicely recorded album, and deserves a place in any true jazz lovers collection.
Supplier: Vivante - www.vivante.co.uk (44)(0)1293-822186

Odd Riisnæs - Another Version
Gemini/ Taurus TRCD 831 Reviewed by DD
Norwegian jazz, hmm? When Bill of aanvill audio thrust this into my hand I was a bit sceptical, but actually it's pretty good stuff. Odd's (what a fine name) third album of mostly original compositions, Cole Porter's 'I Love You' being the exception, is a well-played, very nicely recorded set. Odd leads a quintet including Steinar Larsen, guitar, Iver Kleive, keyboards, Terje Gewelt, bass and Tom Olstad, drums. Standout number is 'Ab 1.01', the first section of a four part suite which opens with Odd's Soprano sax floating over a church organ, along with a lovely sense of acoustic from the Helgerud church - very ECM, very Jan Garbarek - followed by guitar. The effect is a little less clinical than Garbarek and all the better for it. Actually, there's such a consistent feel to the entire album that the whole thing could be termed a suite. One number flows seamlessly into the next without, and here's the vital ingredient, the soporific qualities of other bands I can think of. What was that German label again? None of the music on this album is particularly challenging, at times it verges on 'jazz-lite', but it is all very listenable, and somehow the standard of playing, the cohesion of the whole album and the fine recording make it a very enjoyable experience..
Supplier: Aanvil Audio - www.aanvilaudio.u-net.com

Shinobu Sato - Red Dragonfly
Flying Fish Records FF476 Reviewed by DD
This is one of those albums thats very difficult to categorise, so I won't bother. Suffice it to say that it's a nicely captured set of solo and accompanied acoustic music. It features Shinobu Sato on guitar, with on a few tracks Stuart Rosenberg, mandolin and Collins Trier, hammered dulcimer. The track choices are nothing if not wide ranging, spanning from traditional tunes like 'Simple Gifts', tunes transcribed for guitar like the Japanese pieces originally composed for the shamisen, and the rich harp tune 'Si Bheag, Si Mhor'. There's even a version of 'Grandfather's Clock' although this is probably the only number which, however well played, evokes distant memories of 'Listen with Mother' and somewhat buggers up the feel of the surrounding tracks. The Japanese numbers come over best, in particular the 'Sakura Variations' and the beautiful title track. There's also an excellent transcription of Gershwin's 'Prelude #2' that comes over surprisingly well on guitar. The recording is very clean and nicely detailed although the old failing of the '7 foot wide guitar' presents itself again. Pressing quality, albeit on 120g vinyl, is good and clean, with no errant pops and clicks. A highly unusual and enjoyable album.
Supplier: The Cherished Record Company - www.cherished-record-company.co.uk (44)(0)1579 363603

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