The Handsome Family - Last Days of Wonder - VJCD166

For days now, the lines "after we shot the grizzly" and "I can still see you there in your grass-stained underwear" have been going round in my head. The former comes from the song of the same name and is set to a particularly jaunty tune which continues along its merry way cataloguing a series of disasters befalling a stranded group of men - airship crashes, madness, disease - culminating in setting to sea on a boat made of skin and bone. And no, things don't get any better, as you might expect. The latter comes from Flapping Your Broken Wings, a tale of the violation of a golf course and possibly more. In their own way, both songs are beautiful and utterly original.

No one in their right minds would expect anything ordinary from The Handsome Family, of course, but, as ever, Brett and Rennie Sparks consistently transform the mundane into the extraordinary, and, in Somewhere Else To Be, the chance encounter into the life-changing event, if only we had the gumption to realise it was a life-changing event, and the nerve to grasp the opportunity. So there's plenty to identify with, even though Rennie, who writes the songs, is clearly blessed with a particularly rich imagination. Hunter Green is an original but could easily be a folk song in its disturbing imagery of a lover's transformation.

She recently gave an interview about the panic attack she suffered when she lost Brett in an airport and there are two songs which presumably draw on that experience. We've all been in similar situations, but who else would conclude that fact that automatic taps fail to see one's hands is a sign that death is imminent? Or, as she puts it, "your last journey has begun." It's a wonderful, haunting album. Watch out for those automatic taps and stray dogs gathering in your yard.

Recantation!

I would like to formally disown my criticisms of Dylan's Modern Times. There is, as the song has it, a thin line between love and hate. And over the last 35 years there are a handful of albums which I have, for one reason or another, started off hating but which have grown to be much loved, definitive, favourites - stronger than those I liked immediately. Modern Times is joining them. Somewhere over the last two weeks it crept under my skin and is now recognised as a work of beauty and genius....

Nostalgia reigns:

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager - B000H30938

God knows what Sam Duckworth, lone Get Cape-er was thinking of when he came up with this moniker, but this homegrown guitarist clearly has his musical heart in the right place at least. Coming across like a modern day acoustic troubadour backed only by his guitar and a laptop (with some sparse strings and a trumpeter in some places), he's definitely a likeable singer/songwriter on paper. And the media attention is warranted to some extent, too; he's got a great ear for melody and doesnt let his lyrics get bogged down in the standard singer/songwriter relationship problems. Makes a bloody nice change, actually.

Sam's not putting on a faux-American accent too, letting his southern English voice come through, if a little harshly for the songs at times like on part 2 of the title track. But his acoustic strumming is well complimented by the electronic drum backing, which simply allows the songs to breathe when they arrive and doesnt constrict them. Like with Halloween Alaska, it's hard to compare him to someone, and whilst he isn't the second coming (experience says no one the British media hypes up will ever be), this is a pretty damn good CD.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of The Broken Seas - VVR1035822

That’s Isobel Campbell of Belle and Sebastian and Mark Lanegan of Queens of The Stone Age, and my copy of the CD came with a sticker full of one-liners from various reviews claiming that this album would change the course of music as we know it. Of course, they’re wrong but the whole thing does have an intriguing air about it, making you wonder where they’re going to go next, and whether you care.

The duo share the vocals, Campbell’s being light, sweet and breathy. Lanegan, by way of contrast, comes from the Waits/Cohen school of singing (which is not a bad thing in my book). The first track, Deus Ibi Est, is pure Waits in tone and content. Next, Campbell’s Black Mountain is pure folk, reminiscent of Scarborough Fair and with a really annoying refrain of “I choo, I choo.” The third track, The False Husband, is Tom Waits meets Enrico Moricone, as Sara described it. Baffled by all this? I was.

Then, thank goodness, they produce something of themselves in the title track, lapse briefly back into The Waits Land in Ramblin' Man, complete with Mark Ribot-style guitar, and finally settle into a pleasant country-rock groove with the two voices playing off against each other. There are two rather pointless instrumental tracks before the album closes with a piece of pure Springsteen, The Circus is Leaving Town. It’s all rather pleasant and beautifully played, but I don’t think it’s going to change anything. Of course, there's no need for the album to change anything but you might decide to listen to the real thing, or things, instead.

The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely - 4AD 2614

Well, we'd better (see below) have a review of The Goats' latest album then. John Darnielle, who is The Goats, has never been one for shying away from emotional trauma. As RS and Iwan noted, The Sunset Street was all about his relationship with his abusive stepfather. In Tallahassee, which is still his best album for my money, he explored the what it was like to be in a relationship that was on the rocks in the visceral No Children. In Get Lonely, he goes a step further and explores the aftermath of the departure of a partner.

If you don't like albums of sad songs, then this is clearly not for you because these songs are really sad. He expresses perfectly the desolation, the loss of purpose, the grief, and the futile attempts to find distraction in a succession of perfectly turned and beautifully played songs, rather more lavishly orchestrated than in previous offerings. He ranges from the mundane consequences - making coffee for two out of habit and drinking it all because she didn't like waste - to the cosmic - "an astronaut could have seen the hunger in my eyes from space." At best, relief comes only for a minute. He takes refuge in memories until they become too vivid to bear.

So, it's not going to send you skipping down the street exactly but the attraction comes because we've all been there and everything he describes is instantly recognisable, expressed clearly and poetically, and seamlessly combined with his music. The good news is that he's touring Australia in the near future and playing Sydney in January. I'm going

Razorlight (Mercury) + The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree

Two clicks on iTunes and two Indie albums later...
The Mountain Goats was released last year (and properly reviewed at the time by Iwan) but I have only just caught up with it. And it's definitely a case of better late than never. John Darnielle writes autobiographically of growing up in California with an abusive step father (to whom the album is dedicated). It captures teenage angst, sorrow, anger and more put to compulsive often joyful tunes. "This Year" with it's refrain ("I'm gonna make it through this year if it kills me") and salvation through a girl called Kathy ("two high maintenance machines") is the best track for me - but there is much to admire and sing along to. Catharsis through pop. Worth a second review if it encourages someone else to discover it!

Razorlight's second album lives up to the promise of their first. For me they are the best of the new indie bands sweeping the festivals in the UK over the last couple of years. "Somewhere Else" was a great single last year. The new one, from this album, is just as good: America, "All my life, Watching America, All my life, There's panic in America"...but other tracks like Who Needs Love and Before I Fall To Pieces are just as strong. Lead singer Johnny Borrell's arrogance irritates some - but if you're 26 years old with a great band and some great songs, that's as it should be. And the fact that Pete Docherty decided to physically attack him only to be floored by Borrell endears him to me even more.

Bob Dylan - Modern Times (Columbia)

"Epic", "another masterwork", "his best in decades" ran some of the reviews. It isn't. It's not bad - but we've come to hope for more after 40 years of innovation and turning expectation on its head. And that's my real problem with the album. Once you've started, it's predictable. Rolling Stone magazine said in its review: "This music is relaxed; it has nothing to prove. It is music of accumulated knowledge, it knows every move, anticipates every step before you take it." I would sum that up in one word: tired.
In a series of slow waltzes and blues shuffles, Dylan sounds like the pensioner he is, taking another turn around the tea dance floor. He says the band is the best he has ever worked with. They are tight - but you can anticipate every turn of musical phrase bars ahead and they never defy your expectation. Is this, as some suggest, an homage to tradition, their blues folk roots, or is it, as I fear, just a failure of imagination?
Someday Baby and Workingman's Blues 2 lift their heads and show what might have been and the final track Ain't Talkin' has a trace of the old menace. But for the most part the songs, like his voice, sound frail. I shall return to Desire, Blood on The Tracks and even Time Out of Mind, but not often to his view of Modern Times I fear.

Ali Farka Toure - Savane - WCD075

This was the last album he made before his death and, like its predecessor In The Heart Of The Moon, it was recorded in the Hotel Mande in Bamako. Many were disappointed with that album: it was undeniably beautiful but perhaps too intimate, Toure and Toumani Diabate too involved in each other’s skill and musical cultures to draw in the listener. Well, this one is different.

It’s a return to the plaintive, driving, dry-as-dust desert blues of his early albums, played with even more assurance and beautifully recorded, and really feels as though it was recorded for an audience. It’s becoming hard to find a mainstream African album without an itinerant Westerner or two popping up on a few tracks, not always to good effect. Here we have Pee Wee Ellis, who has been playing with many Malian musicians, but I’m glad to say his sax doesn’t sound too out of place and adds to the atmosphere on Bato.

More effective is the harmonica of Little George Sueref, Cardiff-born, and now based and playing clubs in London. As far as I know, he’s released only one album of his own and it’s splendid. He sounds perfectly in place and, hopefully, this collaboration means we’ll hear more of him.

Even so, the unadorned title track really can’t be beaten. The whole album is wonderful. Can’t recommend it enough.

Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You - ANTI 86788-2

I thought the enigmatic RS would have reviewed this as he’s a big fan of Ms Holland and introduced me to her music but he’s clearly too busy reliving his mis-spent youth. Musically, that is. For newcomers, I suppose I should start with her voice, which I know some find irritating. The unkind might describe it as fey or overly winsome but you could equally describe it as beguiling and, anyway, if you feel her voice lacks substance, the songs more than make up for it.

The first track, Crush In The Ghetto, is a pop ballad describing how her neighbourhood seems to be transformed after a night with new lover. There is one dubious line about ants and pants, but we’ll pass over that. At the other end of the affair, Please Don’t ends with the line “don’t tell ’em what you know about me,” a common fear at the end of intimacy and neatly summed up. In between, she swings from blues to country through jazz, with a variety of accompaniment from baritone horn to cello. It’s a feast.

Strangely Strange but Oddly Normal - An Island Anthology (Island 9822950)

Back in the very early 70s teenage boys were often to be seen walking around ostentatiously carrying "samplers" of island records - the two best known beng El Pea and Bumpers. Indeed Bumpers was my introduction to "progressive" music. The best of five years of island records is now available on this anthology - and may have been for some time but i have only just discovered it How the years melt away. It was a remarkable five year period from 1967 to 1972 showcasing new acts like Free, Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, John and Beverley Martyn, Nick Drake, Cat Stevens, ELP, Traffic, and others less well remembered like Dr Strangely Strange, Quintessance, Clouds and more. WIth 48 songs this is a generous collection which recaptures the time admirably - and much of it still stands up well (although may be propped up by nostalgia.) It was a period of innocence and creativity, long past, but fondly remembered. If you grew your hair 35 years ago, wore loons and quivered when Sandy Denny sang, indulge yourself in this.

Ursula Rucker - Supa Sister !K7 106CD; Silver or Lead !K7 153CD; !K7 194CD

I heard about Ursula Rucker last month and, in the last couple of weeks, have bought all three of her CDs. Ursula Rucker is a member of Philadelphia’s Hip Hop community. But saying that in no way conveys how unique she is. She is so far off the beaten track that she has to record for a German company, since what she does is of no value to the US entertainment industry. Ursula Rucker shows how far other rappers, even the best of them, fall short of creating beautiful music.

It is argued, cogently, that life in the ghetto is anything but beautiful and that Rap reflects that. But there have been musicians such as Lester Young, Mingus, Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, who have been able to draw from the ugliness transcendent beauty. The difference is that Ursula Rucker does this, not with the abstraction that is music, but with concrete words; words that WILL NOT LET YOU ESCAPE THE REALITY. And yet, through these inescapable words, accompanied by intelligent, sympathetic, music, the miracle of beauty arises; I’m not sure how.

Some of it stems from her delivery. She is no MC, standing in front of a turntable basher, yelling into a mike. She delivers her extremely uncomfortable messages in a calm, controlled, fury. And this delivery, too, makes it impossible to escape the message through not hearing the words clearly.

Much of it stems from her articulacy. Her messages are deeply felt, carefully thought out, and clearly expressed in uncompromising language that makes no concessions to “dumbing down”.

Her messages are mainly described as dealing with “women’s issues”; an attempt at a brush-off, if I ever saw one. She sees things from a woman’s perspective, it’s true, which doesn’t invalidate the message in any way. And perhaps because of that, she also sees things in a way that understands motivations, without condoning anything. And expresses herself in a way that communicates her fury to the listener. Everyone in the world ought to listen to Ursula Rucker. Her work is beautiful but it isn’t, even slightly, entertaining.

Amazon is the best place to buy her CDs – they are expensive but there are bargains at Amazon, I should imagine because so many people have found her too uncomfortable to live with - AM

The Derek Trucks Band - Songlines - 82796 92844 2

At first glance, this doesn't have much going for it. There's the band's name to start. Then there's the fact that Derek Trucks appears to be a young, old-fashioned guitar hero and has a long, irritating pony-tail. You can see the pony-tail in a photo on the album which shows him sitting on a camp chair in the desert, guitar poised, with his back to the camera while the rest of the band walks adoringly up a slope toward him. That irritated me as well. And then he latches on to Aboriginal songlines and quotes Bruce Chatwin on the subject, who, while a brilliant writer, wasn't known for sticking to the facts about anything when it didn't suit him.

So it was just as well that I heard the music on the Jazz and Conversation blog before I was exposed to any of the above. I suppose it's mostly jazz or blues with, inevitably, horror of horrors, some jazz-rock, and there is an air of nostalgia hanging over the whole thing, stemming from the style rather than the content, which is nearly all up-beat. I'm sure I heard something like it when I was in college but I can't think what it was. However, it's all tightly played, only sinks into self-indulgence on the Indian-influenced track, Sahib Teri Bandi, and has loads of strong melodies. I knew there had to be a reason I keep playing it.

Great Lake Swimmers @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff 11/05/06

In retrospect, I would rather have caught John Vanderslice supporting Death Cab back in March than the two bands who supported Great Lake Swimmers last week. Anyway, after two supports, on came Tony Dekker, quiet leader of the band and they kicked off about an hour or so of wistful, VERY low-key and intimate folk; Dekker on his acoustic, accompanied by a Banjo player and drummer for most of the set.

Gigs like this can go either way, much like the albums, and you were one of two people at the gig. Either you were quietly chatting away with the support band or you were taking Dekker's songs in and getting annoyed at the ones talking. Problem was that the songs were so quiet that the chatting was actually louder at times!

Dekker got everyone to shut up with a mesmerising and moving solo rendition of 'This Is Not Like Home'; you could literally hear a pin drop (think I did too). He's such a quiet character, and an unassuming frontman also. My mate went up to ask him for a setlist two seconds after he'd gotten off stage, and Dekker actually shyed away, bless him. Still, the mind wandered rarely during the setlist, and was a good advert for the 'South By South Wales' festival (see what they did there?).

35X35 – Alligator Records – ALCD 120/21

This compilation has one track from each of the 35 years of Alligator Records, set up in 1971 by the then 23-year-old blues fan, Bruce Iglaur. The first signing was Hound Dog Taylor who, appropriately, kicks off the compilation with She’s Gone (well, it wouldn’t be the blues if she’d come back, would it?). There’s barely a dud on the two discs, with contributions from Professor Longhair , Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Charlie Musselwhite, C J Chenier and The Holmes Brothers, among others.

Some are worth it for the names alone: Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials, Little Charlie and The Nightcats and Guitar Shorty but there’s no explanation of why they’re all apparently challenged in the physical stature department. It’s the women who stand out, though: Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, Koko Taylor, Katie Webster, and Shemekia Copeland. The latter's 1998 recording of Salt In My Wounds, made when she was only 18, makes me think Joss Stone might as well retire now.

You can buy 35X35 direct from
Alligator Records which would be a good thing to do.

Bruce Springsteen - The Seeger Sessions (Columbia)

Can I apologise for doing this straight away. Sorry. I bought this album 30 minutes after seeing it performed live in one of the best concerts of my life. Springsteen and his 17 strong Seeger Sessions band live at St Lukes in East London in front of 200 people for a BBC recording. They were sensational. The album, his latest tribute to the american working man, is traditional US folk songs in honour of Pete Seeger. The band are tighter than a banjo string and perform the whole thing (on disc as well as live I must add) with what comes over as real spontaneity and joy. A great horn section, violins, accordians and much else. It all has a strong Louisiana twist and I defy anyone not to join in, if only with a tapping toe. Far better, pour a large JD, fire up the barbie and holler along with the bluegrass spirit. For those of us who were there at the beginning it's been a great journey from Asbury Park via Thunder Road, The River, and Nebraska, passing The Ghost of Tom Joad to The Rising and now this. And on this form, plenty more to come. If you want to see or hear the concert it's on Radio 2 on Saturday evening (May 13th - available worldwide via the BBC RadioPlayer) or on BBC4 on Friday 19th or BBC 2 Saturday 20th. Set your recorders...


(The TV picture will be better than my phone cam...)

The Wood Brothers - Ways Not To lose (Blue Note B000E6UK4G)

The Wood Brothers are a guitar- bass duo. They combine into a blues - country- folk - jazz- gospel kind of mix. (I'm tempted to stop the review at that). Chris (bass) and Oliver (guitar and vocals) are brothers who have played in other bands and just got together and released this album. I heard a couple of tracks on the Paul Jones show on Radio 2 on Thursdays (yes the Manfred Mann Paul Jones - I recommend the show) and they really hit the spot - you know, that one in your stomach that's attached to your spine. Sample Atlas as a great example of their work, or The Luckiest Man strikes a particular chord with me. More information available here. Just go and listen. You won't regret it.

Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days SPCD 630

The 'one bloke with an acoustic and a bucket of tunes' bus is surely getting a little crowded, but Sam Beam, a lecturer from Florida who makes up Iron & Wine's studio line-up, gets by thanks to being perhaps the quietest of them all. Singing in a mid whisper, and almost always just with his guitar, he writes simple slow summery songs about life. So of course, that means he's reflective, wistful, has songs about love, but the great thing is the low volume really does create a rare sense of constant intimacy. Honest.

Songs like 'Fever Dream' and 'Naked As We Came' are just stripped down songs about love to absorb yourself in; all simple melodies and caring lyrics. He's definitely moved on from previous album 'The Creek Drank The Cradle' which suffered from repitition for me, and whilst I dont think Beam will ever be anyone's favourite singer/songwriter, his albums are like a walk in a nice forest; not something you want to overdo but something you can always rely on for a nice, different and thoughtful experience.

Salif Keita - M'Bemba - 0602498312278

Salif Keita once said he developed his voice as a child while scaring the monkeys away from his father's crops. In that case, we have a lot to thank the monkeys for. For many, me included, his soaring, powerful vocals on Soro, were an introduction to the music of West Africa and the album helped launch "world music" as a genre. He was always more other-worldly than his contemporaries, like Baaba Maal and Youssou N'Dour, and never quite followed their path to international fame. He is famous, of course, but he did get lost along the way and his output has been patchy.

His last album, Moffou, was rightly welcomed as return to form. Quiet and traditional, it had a sense of calm. M'Bemba builds on that. It has a stellar cast of Malian musicians, including Kante Manfila and Toumani Diabate, and was recorded in Keita's own studio in Mali. Buju Banton's contribution on Ladji is rather dubious, but the rest is flawless, with even a touch of soukous. And on the last two tracks, M'Bemba and Moriba, that voice starts soaring again.

Van Morrison - Pay The Devil (Polydor E6EIT4)

And while we're in a country mood, there's this. I tried, really tried, not to buy it. I defer to no-one in my admiration for Van Morrison but too many recent albums have been way off the pace - and I assumed this would be too. Then I heard Playhouse and then his version of Your Cheatin' Heart and gave in. It's country covers and a couple of originals. His voice is great and the band, handpicked and honed to perfection. Not everyone's glass of JD but if you're in the mood - or need to keep the country feel going after listening to The Little Willies - it hits the spot. Anyone for Nashville?

The Little Willies (Parlophone E6UJXS)

Every so often you discover something which you know is going to become a fixture in your life. It may not be the stonking great settee in the middle of the room, but it will fit comfortably in some corner and be returned to and appreciated often. So it is with The Little Willies - a group of friends who got together to play in a New York Club but who happen to include some great musicians and Norah Jones singing. It's a country feel, with covers of songs by Hank Williams, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson amongst others. The lazy vocals fit the laid back feel like the proverbial silk glove, the guitar, just behind the beat, always seems to head in an unexpected direction and you can just tell they are having a good time. If they played in a bar near you every Friday you'd be a regular. If you want to download a taste choose "It's Not You It's Me".

Cat Power - The Greatest - OLE 626-2

Everyone's agreed that Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, is a bit of an enigma. For a start, Chan is pronounced "Shawn". Then, apparently, no one knows what to expect at her gigs other than chaos. And she seems to have something of a hit on her hands with this album but has cancelled her tour for "health reasons." Which may, of course, be true. If so, I hope she gets better because, despite what one might expect, The Greatest is a collection of tightly-written and played, sparse, hypnotic songs. It's quite beautiful. Recorded in Memphis, it swings between country and blues, with Marshall breathing, rather than singing most of the lyrics.

But when she does open up her voice, as in Where Is My Loveand Lived in Bars, it's dramatic and effective. She's also a good piano player but like the other musicians on the album, she restricts herself to under-stated and subtle contributions to the songs. If this sounds rather low-key, well, it is. But there's more than enough change of pace and tone to hold your interest. By the way, the band's name, and she is the band, has nothing to do with felines. She chose it after seeing the words on a baseball cap so it's got more to do with large earth-moving machinery. Incongruity piled upon enigma.

Death Cab For Cutie - Live at Nottingham Rock City 02/03/06

Maybe it's the fact that I'm surrounded by trendy people who only know the mighty Death Cab from that most hideous of teen shows, The O.C. but there seems to be a definite divide between them and us devoted converts singing along to every word of (mostly) genius soft rock stylings. Regardless, the band roll through 19 songs in a little under 90 minutes; great value for money I reckon.

Not wishing to be elitist, but 7 songs of tonight's set are culled from last year's 'Plans', which is possibly just Death-Cab-by-numbers. Not bad songs by any means, but thankfully, its left to 'Transatlanticism' to deliver the moments of the evening, including a weighty rendition of 'We Looked Like Giants', and a mesmerising run through the album's title track to end the set. As great an end to the gig as it was, I did find myself wishing for a few more ardent fans and less curious onlookers to make the unifying sing-a-long at the end a bit more powerful. Maybe I'm just getting old. Still; great band, great songs, great gig.

Sonny Stitt - Just The Way It Was: Live at The Left Bank - Hyena 9337

This is the hottest album of live black music I’ve ever heard.

It was recorded in 1971 in Baltimore. Stitt was accompanied by Don Patterson, the most articulate jazz organist, and Billy James, an underrated drummer. They had been working together for a decade; the rapport is absolutely there.

Six weeks earlier, Sonny and Gene Ammons had been in Van Gelder’s. Jug told Sonny that he sounded terrible using an amplified sax and Stitt apparently never recorded with it afterwards. Well, he was still using the amplifier in Baltimore. I don’t like the sound either but, this time, I don’t give a damn. Anyway, you can hear why Sonny was using it; he needed it!

The sleevenotes of Don Patterson’s albums are full of references to how unlike most organists he is, in eschewing volume pedal and pounding organ. Well, those were studio recordings. This is the only live recording Don made. He is totally overpowering; fast, articulate, visceral, breathtakingly exultant – oh yes, and loud, too.

That night, the three men played music that is the ultimate in excitement. I’m sure the audience left the ballroom with blistered faces and scorched clothes.

A warning: Hyena is Joel Dorn’s fifth label, following Wolf, Night, 32Jazz and Label M. This album was released on Label M in 2000 but, a few weeks later, Label M followed its predecessors into bankruptcy. I was lucky to get one. Now it’s reissued, the message is: don’t delay too long - AM

Paul Weller - As Is Now (V2 9S2G8C)

Something's happened to Paul Weller. Britain has decided to embrace him as a national treasure. It came to a head with the Brits award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement (or something). But before that he was already being written about in terms normally reserved for 60s icons and any appearance was marked by inreasingly frantic behaviour by those seeking tickets. And Why Not (as Barry Norman would say)? While no-one would call him humble he has certainly patiently built a remarkable career. The Jam (together with The Clash and The Ramones) stand as the best legacy of 70s punk and new wave. He then made a genuinely bold career change into white soul with The Style Council, again called it a day at the top of their popularity and embarked on a solo career encompassing Stanley Road, Wild Wood, Studio 150 (a covers album) and now to this. He's back in top-volume-hard-edged form - but, as ever, not shy of a sweet melody either. Blink And You'll Miss It and From The Floorboards Up stand out for me. But everywhere on here you'll find echoes of nearly 3 decades of fine Britpop innovation coming together in his strongest album for years.

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am That's What I'm Not (Domino BTDMDC)

I nearly didn't bother with this as so much has already been written about them. Post-punk nervous energy married with clever lyrics (again heavily influenced by The Streets). They now famously built a fan base on the internet (My Space.com) and with relentless touring without the support of a record company became unignorable. The album is sharp, edgy and very assured. My favourite tracks - "Bet you look good on the dancefloor" and "Still take you home". If you want to remember what it was like to be 17 put this on and turn up the volume. No place for a burnt-out-40-something to be hanging around? Maybe - but I'm not alone. 50 quid bloke pointed me to a piece by Andrew Collins’ in Word magazine this month. "Titled: ‘How Arctic Monkeys saved my life’, it’s basically a description of how they have turned him - a middle-aged, seen-it-all music hack - into a stammering fan again." Indeed.

Hard-Fi Stars of CCTV (Atlantic B90U2M8)

Current british radio favourites based on the infectious single "Cashpoint" about the hardships of a hand-to-mouth existence and teenage pregnancy when the machine swallows your card. Surprisingly catchy in the circumstances. The album is refreshingly varied in influences including reggae, ska, indie rock anthems and much else. The tone is very much about the alienation of modern youth - but as they come from Staines that's understandable. Think Mike Skinner (The Streets) meets Bloc Party with a dash of The Specials and you're close. Can't quite envisage that? Take a glimpse then....

Cash Machine (Hard-Fi)

Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat. (Rough Trade CBEWM4)

Jenny Lewis is the singer from Rilo Kiley who decided to make this solo record (with vocal support from the enigmatic Watson twins) in between RK albums. Those of you who know Rilo Kiley will already appreciate her clear, nuanced and beautiful vocal style with a country/gospel twist more noticeable here than when she's with the band. The lyrics are as piercing and intriguing as you would expect covering religion, relationships, parenthood among much else. As music writer Andy Greenwald puts it "She's got hair the color of a Pacific sunset, a voice as sweet as an ice cream cone, and a wit sharper than a razorblade." Pretty much sums it up. Stand out tracks for me are Rise Up With Fists and You Are What You Love - but you really need to hear the whole thing through rather than pick on individual songs. A cover of the Travelling Wilburys Handle With Care doesn't quite come off, but I'll forgive her. You can find out more and sample some of it here.

Nada Surf - The Weight is The Gift - bark46ltd

I've been a fan of Nada Surf since I discovered their second album Let Go and then heard them on a memorable night in Barfly in Cardiff. A trio from New York, they have, apparently, been doing it hard since they formed when they were in their teens, had one hit, saw their first album Proximity Effect sink without trace and consequently became embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute with their then record company.

However, that all seems to be behind them and their latest album The Weight is The Gift is a fine collection of bouncy and accomplished songs. Their hallmark is good, strong rock guitar work, verging on, but just about missing, cliches, pop catchiness, and an overall sensibility that draws me in all the time. The songs in this album all seem to be about the end of love or life not going terribly well (there's a surprise but does anyone listen to unrelentingly happy albums?) without being dreary and then they pop up with The Blankest Year which begins: "Oh f**k it, I'm going to have a party...". I think Let Go is better - fresher, more uplifting and more varied - but The Weight has been playing since I bought it.

Curtis Amy - Mosaic Select 007

Most people have heard Curtis Amy, if only the tenor solo on the Rolling Stones’ Honky Tonk Women or the soprano sax solo on Carole King’s It’s Too Late. Amy was a great Texas tenor player; not as important as Newman, Jacquet or King Curtis, but well up there. This set of three CDs contains all six of the LPs he recorded between 1960 and 1963 for Pacific Jazz. There is not a dud track anywhere.

The first CD covers The Blues Message and Meetin’ Here, two albums by a quintet Amy co-led with the brilliant, but obscure, organist, Paul Bryant. The front line of tenor, valve trombone and organ is pretty unusual and sounds wonderful, quite aside from the playing.

CD #2 covers Groovin’ Blue and Way Down – you can tell where Amy is coming from by his titles, can’t you? Roy Brewster is once again on valve trombone, but Bryant was replaced by two up and coming vibes players – Bobby Hutcherson and Roy Ayers, and three piano players.

The final disc covers Tippin’ on Through – a live LP with Ayers and Brewster once more on board – and Amy’s masterpiece, Katanga, one of the albums that I’d take to a desert island (even if it meant leaving some Grant Green behind) - AM

Halloween, Alaska - Too Tall To Hide - ESD81772

Halloween, Alaska had a bit of a breakthrough earlier this year when they re-released their eponymous album, no doubt helped along by one of the tracks being used in The OC. This is much more varied, with even a hint of jazz, which shouldn't be a surprise as one band member doubles up as a jazz drummer. Overall, it has the same dreamy feel but with more change of tone and pace - you're less likely to drop off listening to this and more likely to remember individual tracks. I particularly liked I Can't Live Without My Radio, which captures that dislocated feeling you get when you're walking down a street to the rythym in your ears which no one else can hear, and Forever, which uses the sea and the beach as a metaphor for a relationship and warns that unrequited love has fifteen rows of teeth and will drag you under. Still not sure how to label this band so let's just try "good."

Grasella Oliphant – The Grass Roots/The Grass is Greener – Collectables 7657

Grasella Oliphant is obscure. He worked as Gloria Lynne’s drummer for years, then was with the Turrentine/Scott band. In the mid-1960s, he ran his own band and made these two albums.

The first, from January 1965, is a very good, very relaxed affair, with the unusual instrumentation of tenor sax, vibes, bass and drums; Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Harold Ousley on sax. Ousley is on both albums. After Horace Silver, Ousley is the most important composer of Soul Jazz standard material, most of which was not recorded by him (since he had only made five albums up to 2000).

The second, from March 1966, features John Patton and Grant Green, as well as Clark Terry. The standout tracks are The Yodel and Soul Woman, both written by and recorded by Patton and Green a month later on Blue Note. The Yodel, in addition to burning solos from the composers, has a magnificently preaching, screaming, solo from Terry, who hardly ever played this type of material. Overall, this is a brilliant album, with Yodel being one of the great performances of all time - AM.

Neil Young - Prairie Wind - Reprise 49596-2

This follows neatly from Harvest and Harvest Moon, rather than anything more raucous, and is equally atmospheric and poignant. I started thinking that some of the songs were slightly maudlin but decided that, in the circumstances, with Young having brain surgery and the death of his father, it was understandable and was more of reaction to his voice than anything else; it does sound frail on some of the songs, from age or emotion perhaps.

But there are some epic songs, like No Wonder, taking us all the way from the prairies to Capitol Hill, as well as the more personal ones, like the title track and This Old Guitar. There's one about Elvis, He Was The King, which is rocky and several songs get a brass accompaniment which really beefs things up. Initially, it seemed good but a bit over-familiar. After several listens, the depth and the difference are coming through.

Akira Tana - Secret Agent Men - Sons of Sound SSPCD012

In the early 1990s, Lonnie Smith started recording for Japanese labels, initially by being the centrepiece of bands put together in the studio and given a session name, rather than Lonnie’s. This was the second, recorded in August 1992, and originally issued by Paddlewheel under the name and title of Secret Agent Men. It’s now been reissued in America under the name of Akira Tana, the well-known Californian drummer.

I adore this album. As the title suggests, it’s made up of songs, mostly film & TV themes, about spies; the exception being In The Heat Of The Night. Mission Impossible, The Guardsman, It’s Probably Me, Charade, From Russia With Love plus the totally unexpected theme from the Alfred Hitchcock TV series. The CD ends with a suite of five originals called Fictitious Soundtracks from ‘Tough Guy’, one by each of the band. And they do all sound like exciting soundtrack material.

Bob Kenmotsu, another Californian, is on tenor; Rodney Jones on guitar; and Rufus Reid is on bass - AM

Bob Dylan - No Direction Home: The Soundtrack - Col 520358 2

I don’t buy old stuff as a rule, partly because I’ve got quite a lot already, but also because there’s so much around that’s fresh and new, but I was persuaded by a big Dylan fan to get this and I’m very glad I did. It’s two cds of mostly previously unreleased takes and live versions covering both acoustic and electric periods, from 1959 through to 1966 and the infamous accusation of “Judas” at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall. Of course, it’s also the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s film.

I’ve been spellbound. It’s reminded me of the extent to which that voice and the songs he wrote in that period influenced those who were growing up, not just during those six years, but for many years after. It’s reminded me of how great a musician he was, and of the power of his lyrics. There’s a simple version of She Belongs to Me on the electric cd and it still comes across as a sharp a dissection of character as you’re likely to hear. When I heard Tombstone Blues and the line addressed to the commander in chief “the sun isn’t yellow, it’s chicken” I thought immediately of the Bush Administration. It’s staggering how contemporary some of the songs seem. If you didn't like them the first time around, then you won't like them now, but if you did, don't be afraid of looking back.

Sparklehorse - It's A Wonderful Life - B00005IA02

Oddly enough, on a wet, dreary day wandering around Swansea University campus, Sparklehorse’s third album (and personal favourite) seems optimistic, even happy. Slight contradiction really, as Mark Linkous has been repeatedly hailed as the best writer of moving, slow, and quiet, sad simple songs around. Also taking into account his random weird lyrics (I.e. “I’m the dog that ate your birthday cake”, from this album’s title track) and interesting song titles of course.

With the promise of a new album being written, and also the promise of it not coming any time soon, it’s good to sink into reliable classics like ‘Sea Of Teeth’ and ‘Good Day’, which go about their simple brilliance with hushed vocals, accompanied by even quieter strings and pianos. PJ Harvey adding her vocals to ‘Apple Bed’ and ‘Piano Fire’ amongst others is a great touch too. And ‘King Of Nails’ still gets my vote for best possible single with it’s whammy bar solo.

Considering its been 4 years since ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ was released, it’s a nice pleasure to work through Linkous’ work and find plenty to keep you occupied till he gets around to releasing the 4th Sparklehorse album. Musical retarded genius? Yeah, close enough.

Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself - Megaphonic 001

Belonging to a generation where listening to solo female singers is viewed as best left to those of a Dad rock persuasion (although obviously not my Dad) thanks principally to Dido, whilst browsing through my iTunes this Sunday afternoon I was surprised to see the last three albums added were all exactly that. Along with offerings by Natacha Atlas and Jem, I remembered Imogen Heap’s album, Speak for Yourself. Her second solo album (when not singing with Frou Frou) released this year is simply put, essential Autumnal listening.

Catchy but not overtly poppy, and with an ethereal tone that becomes addictive, this album is a small wonder. Electronic in tone, Heap’s vocals draw you in and allow you to see the beauty around you as you walk down a leaf strewn lane to your Post-Communist Russia seminar. Whilst an album that never truly settles in one groove, it flows in the way all albums should. Try to opener Headlock or Goodnight & Go to be convinced.

Jimmy Smith’s Last Four Blue Notes - I’m Movin’ On (32750); Bucket! (24550); Rockin’ The Boat (76755); Prayer Meetin’ (76754)

Every musician who put a Blue Note album on the pop charts in the early 1960s left Blue Note shortly afterwards to record for another label. Francis Wolf visited Europe in the summer of 1970, to produce Hank Mobley’s The Flip in Paris, and was interviewed on the BBC’s jazz programme one Sunday night. He explained what happened.

Blue Note was a cheapskate company with high standards. Normal first year sales of their albums were about 7,000. The breakeven point was about 2,500. But only about half the albums the company recorded came out at the time. Clearly, the company was profitable, since the records would sell for years, or decades, but not spectacularly so. Alfred Lion and Francis Wolf wanted to record the musicians they thought were best. To manage that, they needed to offer the musicians something they couldn’t get from other companies; and to do so within very tight budgets. They came up with the idea of a cash payment that would be greater than the standard Musicians Union scale. The kick was that there were to be no royalties.

All went well until Jimmy Smith, Donald Byrd and Lou Donaldson got records onto the pop charts. Not having read their contracts, they went to Blue Note and asked for their royalties and were told, and I quote, “fuck off, you don’t get no royalties!”

So they did. Smith was the first. He went to Verve and recoded Bashin’ and got a top 5 single out of it, as well as a top 10 album. “Oi! You’re still contracted to us!” was the immediate response from Blue Note. Smith owed Blue Note four albums under his contract. After much hassle, Blue Note got him into Van Gelder’s studio on 31 January 1963. Between then and 8 February, he cut four albums. The reissue in 2004 on CD of the last two means that they are all out again.

Blue Note did well out of those nine days; spinning out the release of the albums over four years, they got three of them onto the pop album charts. Not only were they popular; they were really very good records. Every one is a mellow, relaxed groove in which Smith doesn’t try to prove anything. Each one includes a classic blues ballad: T’ain’t No Use; Careless Love; Please Send Me Someone To Love; and I Almost Lost My Mind. These set the feeling for each album, but there are a couple of Calypsos in there; plenty of hard-rocking grooves that would have done well on juke boxes; some gospel songs like Just A Closer Walk, When The Saints Go Marching In and John Brown’s Body; none of this material was the kind of stuff that Smith usually recorded so, despite the relaxed feel to the albums, Smith and his colleagues were exploring somewhat new territory.

Apart from Bucket!, which just featured Smith’s regular trio with Quentin Warren and Donald Bailey, the albums featured other Blue Note stars, who hadn’t yet left for pastures new.

I’m Movin’ On – an obvious message – features Grant Green, and is the only one that didn’t make the pop charts, possibly because it wasn’t released until after Blue Note had been sold in 1967. The rapport between Green and Smith is astounding, since they didn’t usually play together. The CD has two extra tracks from the session that only came out on a Japanese LP.

Rockin’ The Boat features Lou Donaldson. It’s the only one of the four that I didn’t get on LP, though I did get a 45 off the LP. It has the greatest grooves on it and no bonus tracks. It also features John Patton – playing tambourine(!) - on three tracks. Patton was in Donaldson’s band at the time and, the previous week, Lou had just recorded his last Blue Note for several years. Finally, Prayer Meetin’ features Stanley Turrentine. Turrentine had been on the two hit albums - Midnight Special and Back At The Chicken Shack - that Smith recorded on 25 April 1960, so he was an obvious choice for Smith’s farewell party. Unfortunately, the two bonus tracks on the CD were recorded in June 1960, at a duff session with, strangely, Sam Jones on bass. They really don’t fit in with the rest.

Listening to all four albums together is wonderful. Although there are different stars taking their own approaches and a wide variety of source material, the way it’s handled shows a high degree of integration, both in the direction of the music and the relationships between the musicians. It’s about three hours of constantly satisfying groove - AM

Jolie Holland - Escondida - Anti 6692-2

Got turned onto Jolie Holland by Dad's "Radio Sandy Beach". After hearing 'Do You?', I knew exactly what I'd be getting from her. A great modern blues and slightly jazzy album for those quiet nights and days where all you want is something....well....quiet.

There's nothing exactly revolutionary here, but if that's what you expected then you're listening to the wrong kind of music. Holland writes great songs that you can gently sway and think to, and that are occassionaly pretty moving; 'Damn Shame' and the aforementioned 'Do You?' are fairly direct if soft loving laments. The former in particular uses Holland's voice accompanied by just a piano.

So there we go; a great slow bluesy album to experience, each song laced with Holland's whispy, soft vocals. Also worth noting that her occassional vitriol in some songs by using words we hope she didnt learn in Sunday school make this more than simple background music.

The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers - EMI 0946 330574 2 5

They've become famous for walking out of Top of The Pops after the presenter made a remark about their unfashionable figures, which is a shame, because they're really good. They've got great pop voices with a slight raw Country edge, a bit like Kings of Leon on downers, and the songs are all well-crafted, drawing you in carrying you along, and ending, for the most part, just in time.

Don't expect anything revolutionary or startling but it is one of those albums that makes me wonder just how people make music, in the sense that they take some basic ingredients - voice, guitars, drums etc - and produce something that instantly fits into a genre that's been round for years and yet still sounds fresh. If you could bottle it, you'd make a fortune.

Lonnie Smith/Dave Newman - Boogaloo to Beck - Scufflin' 8481; Reuben Wilson/Andrew Beals - Boogaloo To The Beastie Boys - Scufflin' 8776

The Smith/Newman came out in 2003, the Wilson/Beals in 2004. Both albums use the same rhythm section of Doug Munro on guitar and LaFrae Olivia Sci on drums; never heard of either. Bernie Worrell, an old George Clinton hand, does a guest appearance on the Wilson album.

Beck is a singer I’ve never heard, and had never heard of until I bought this. He writes pretty interesting tunes. And Smith and Newman get deep into them, sometimes developing ideas that just make me gasp. I DO know who the beastie Boys are, though I don’t know their music much – I think they made a record with a proper rap band once. They don’t write terribly interesting tunes.

Smith is one of the giants of the Soul Jazz organ; Wilson isn’t. Newman is one of the giants of the Soul Jazz sax; Beals isn’t, though he trained with McDuff. You’d expect, on paper, that the Beastie’s album wouldn’t be worth listening to. But great though the Smith/Newman is, it’s quite overshadowed by the Wilson/Beals. The plain truth is that Wilson has always majored in enthusiasm and, on material such as this, it shows - AM.

Susheela Raman - Music For Crocodiles EMI4771272

The follow up album to Salt Rain - and even better than its predecessor. (A third album, Love Trap, seems only to be available by import in the UK) Susheela is British, trained to sing classical Indian music, but spreads across into jazz and blues. This is Crossover at its best. African percussion, Asian dissonance, western production on tracks like The Same Song and Meanwhile it all works together surprisingly well. Some tracks are hard work at first but repay the effort. Smoky, perfumed and seductive.

Ry Cooder - Chavez Ravine - Nonesuch/Perro Verde 7559798772

This is journey back into Los Angeles of the fifties, when the greed for land to develop for shopping malls and high-rises resulted in the destruction of many poorer neighbourhoods, including Chavez Ravine. The cd booklet has a remarkable picture of several earth-movers careering down a slope to start work on the stadium for Dodgers baseball team. It's a piece of showmanship and theatre on a grand scale, designed to wipe out the memory of what was there before.

A tribute to the music and the musicians of the time, it has some spoken word thrown in for good measure, and, while it's obviously Latin, it has its own distinctive flavour and benefits from the warm, natural sound that marks out Cooder's albums. I particularly liked Muy Fifi and, for a piece of street story-telling 3 Cool Cats. It's got a great spirit, this album.

Herbie Hancock - Possibilities - Warner 510110112

This is Herbie on piano with a host of guest vocalists, ranging from Sting to Christine Aguilera. I’m not normally a fan of those albums where someone rings up a pile of his or her chums and they all have lovely time and put together a hotch-potch of styles and egos but this really works and you get a splendid collection of songs with some great jazz piano and arrangements, effortlessly blended.

The album starts with a funky track with John Mayer and then the world-flavoured Safiatou on which Santana pops up with Angelique Kidjo, and on both tracks Hancock enhances the music without losing the flavour. I’ve never been a fan of Ms Aguilera (you’ll be amazed to hear) but on A Song For You she keeps the vocal gymnastics under control and lets Hancock do the real work and that’s really the start of the more jazz-flavoured numbers. Annie Lennox, Damien Rice, Paul Simon and Joss Stone also appear with others you may hate or love, but I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every track.

R L Burnside 1926 - 2005

R L Burnside has died at the age of 78, leaving a wife and 12 children. For most of his career, he played raw Delta blues but latterly, under the guidance of the Fat Possum label, produced some fine albums mixing his blues with scratches, beats and loops. The purists hated it, but he made no bones about needing the money.

For the raw Burnside, try First Recordings. Equally raw is his collaboration with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Ass Pocket of Whisky. Come On In is one of his "beats and blues" albums and has a fine photograph of R L and his fridge, padlocked and chained to stop his relatives stealing his food. Burnside on Burnside is recorded live, with R L sounding as though he's having the time of his life. A Bothered Mind is mixed, in more ways than one, and I guess the label were scraping the barrel of recorded fragments after R L stopped work, having been "interviewed to death by Europeans" on the festival circuit. Nearly all the albums are available, as CDs and on vinyl (try Diverse Vinyl).

The best, I think, is Wish I Was in Heaven Sitting Down, for his singing, the blend of old and new styles, and, above all, the material, telling part of the story of R L's life. Which is what it's all about. I hope, in heaven, that they've found him a chair. He deserves it.

Laura Veirs - Year of the Meteors (Nonsuch B000A14OEC)

Suzanne Vega's younger sister goes electric. She's not, of course, but she might as well be. I may be missing something here as it has picked up good reviews - which is why I picked it up on offer in Borders. There's nothing bad or objectionable - but nothing to set it apart either. No friction at all really and it will probably be the subliminal soundtrack to countless thirty something dinner parties for the rest of the year. I just need music to touch the sides somewhere as it is aurally digested. The musical equivalent of cheese dip.

The Cowboy Junkies - 21st Century Blues (CookCD352)

The latest from the Junkies is their most successful since The Caution Horses in my view. It's sealed by a beautifully fragile interpretation of the U2/Eno anthem One - Margo's voice holding a complexity and depth that Bono can't reach. ALso on it are two new songs, two traditional songs and covers of Lennon, George Harrison, Dylan, Springsteen and others. However it all holds together to make more than the sum of the parts. Margo and Michael's big brother John joined them to produce an album that reflected our troubled times but ultimately offered hope - hence 21st Century Blues. Works for me.

Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue - LIBCD7154.2

Yes, she's the one in the suit of armour, milking a startled cow on an Alpine glacier on the cover of Moloko's I Am Not A Doctor. In spite of such larking about, and her snarling picture on the cover of the band's last album, she's got a great voice so don't think she's just about gimmicks, even though she's now apparently heavily into sequins. Having left Moloko, she's teamed up with Matthew Herbert to produce an album that could be described as eclectic or just plain odd. One preview said there wasn't one track that would leave you with a melody in your mind. Well, the reviewer couldn't have got as far as the last track, The Closing of The Doors, which is, simply, a ballad. The rest is mixture of trip-hop, funk, jazz and rock so expecting a melody really isn't the point, I guess. However, as with good jazz, the tune's always in there somewhere; it's just that no one is singing or playing it very much. And can anyone honestly tell me that Night of The Dancing Flame isn't catchy? Overall, it's fresh and it's fun.

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate - In the Heart of The Moon - WCD072

This collaboration between two of the superstars of West African music was recorded in a hotel room overlooking the River Niger in Bamako, Mali, where the musicians and crew could watch the pirogues drifting past. The music is improvised and intricate so don’t expect any fireworks - the whole album has a sense of calm, drifting in whatever direction the two artists decided to go, Farka Toure on guitar, of course, and Diabate on kora.

If you’re a purist, you probably won’t be pleased to hear that Ry Cooder and his son, and the Buena Vista bass player, Orlando Cachaito Lopez, turn up on a few tracks but they’re pretty much in the background so this is still an African album, rather than a hybrid like Talking Timbuktu. And if you turn your nose up at it because the Cooders are now ubiquitous, you’d be missing something really special. It’s also a beautiful recording, supple and dry as dust at the same time.

Halloween, Alaska - Halloween, Alaska - ESD81742

If you’ve steered clear of anything that might be described as “downtempo” on the grounds that such music is, well, vacuous, and only fit for aural wallpaper and car adverts, then you should try this. It’s definitely downtempo with content and there’s even a version of Springsteen’s State Trooper. Yes, it has real songs, with lyrics, and it’s one of the most successful blends of electronica and traditional rock/pop that I‘ve heard. You can’t hear the seams.

I was a bit wary when 50quid Bloke said how lovely it was, but he was right, even down to the three bonus re-mixes. I got it from Noside. It was only US$12 and some kind person in Minnesota sent it all the way to Sandy Beach in five days flat. Hard to beat.

The Stands - All Years Leaving - ECHCD50

The Stands are a bit of an enigma. At least they are to me but maybe not to anyone who reads the music press regularly. My understanding is that they're British and they sound eerily like Bob Dylan when he was just a lad. I have listened to (and enjoyed) a lot of Dylan in my time but frankly I never thought anyone would bother to go to trouble of recreating his sound when he did it originally so well or so badly, depending on your taste.

I can only think that one afternoon when The Stands were teenagers and bored, they raided their dads' record collection for the purpose of poking fun, found his Dylan LP's and though it would be a jolly good idea to revive the old snarler. Oddly, it works. They're not Dylan, of course, but they've got a great way with melody and, like Dylan, can create an atmosphere with just a couple of phrases. And there's a new album out shortly so catch up with this now.

The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree - CAD 2058 CD

Eleven albums in, John Darnielle and his fellow Goats just continue to get better. Produced by indie underground icon John Vanderslice, The Sunset Tree is the Mountain Goats’ most personal, most poppy at times, most beautiful and most affecting recording since their inception.

The music however, takes equal precedent with the lyrics this time, with the content mainly centered around stories of Darnielle’s abusive step father, and his upbringing. But it doesn't bog down the music at all, and the each song has the same clear infectious presentation and addictiveness that's been present since 2002's Tallahassee. There is much more instrumentation this time around too; gone are the days of one acoustic guitar and one voice, which this time touches shoulders with cellos and pianos. Also, Peter Hughes' fearsome bass work really comes forward in Broom People, one of many highlights.

All in all, the Mountain Goats don’t know how to make bad records, and this could be their best. Another gem for fans, another great starter for the uninitiated. Job well done lads, again.

DJ Shadow - The Private Press - MCA - 112937

While Private Press may not upon first listening have the immediacy of his first outing (1996’s Entroducing), within a few listens it becomes clear that Shadow’s lost none of his ingenuity and that this album can compete on an equally high footing.

The album is very difficult to summarise even after a few outings to your CD draw (…or turntable, or i-pod, even possibly your mobile phone these days). Anyway I’m digressing. There are those tracks that are more beat driven & stand out catchy (Walkie Talkie, Right Thing/GDMFSOB), and then there are those that highlight Shadow’s extraordinary ability to meld melodies & harmonies into some of the most tuneful and enjoyable tracks this genre will ever produce (Mongrel Meets His Maker, Giving Up the Ghost, and You Can’t Go Home Again).

But what all the tracks feature is an intricately constructed melody that not only rivals Entroducing’s tracks, but updates Shadow’s sound and embarrasses the soulless rubbish that fills most record stores shelves.

The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan - XLCD191

You can joke all you like about Meg White's drumming style resembling cabbages being dropped on to dustbin lids, but that's just another way of saying that she and Jack keep things simple. They haven't changed that approach on this album and it also has the retro sound and energy of previous albums. So does this one sound just the same?

Well no, every track is recognisably by The White Stripes but there's variety, a lot more piano and change of pace. It's a confident step forward, borne out by the news from my mates in Diverse Vinyl that they're going back into the studio to play the whole thing through live for a vinyl recording. How's that for nerve?

Jimmy Dawkins - West Side Guitar Hero;Tell Me Baby - Fedora 5022; 5032

Dawkins was the last great Mississippi bluesman to emerge in Chicago in the late 1950s. He was mentored by Magic Sam and was ready by the late 1960s. By that time, however, there wasn’t much left of the Chicago blues recording industry. He recorded three great LPs for Delmark over the next seven or so years, then his work fell off and became pretty uninteresting, apparently until the 1990s.

In 2001 and 2003 he recorded for HighNote’s blues label, Fedora, and is clearly back on form. Tell Me Baby isn’t quite as good as West Side Guitar Hero, but the difference is pretty marginal. Both albums are blinders. For a guitar hero, you’d expect Dawkins to play blazing fast runs, following the title of his first LP, Fastfingers, but he doesn’t. Unlike most bluesmen, he tends to solo in the lower registers. This, and the ponderous lines he plays, gives him a grinding, grating sound which is unlike that of any other blues guitarist.

Oh yes, the titles of his songs must be spelt by his grandson, who dances on Tell Me Baby. Wess Cide Rock is my favourite spelling, but Shee Leff Me and So Wurrid and Kotten Field Jump (the latter two of which his grandson did actually write) are nice, too - AM

Oi Va Voi - Laughter through Tears - CASTE29CD

This was released in late 2003 but I've only just caught up with it - and am very glad i have. They are a north London Indie band who combine traditional jewish and east european overtones with dance rhythms, flamenco, trumpet, melodica, and a lot more. The result is unique, close to indefinable (or maybe it's just the hour) and pretty special. Urban, folk, klezmer, jazz all stirred together into an enticing mix. K.T. Tunstall provides guest vocals on a couple of tracks. Try it and see.

Burning Spear - Freeman - 5046729742

This was issued in 2003 and, according to his website, it’s the latest album of new material from one of reggae’s most enduring stars. Perhaps he owes his longevity in the business to his approach which, even by Jamaican standards, you have to say is, well, relaxed, with some splendidly simple songs. At least, the overall effect is one of simplicity but a more attentive listen soon brings out the wonderful phrase-end flourishes that lift the melody and keep the whole thing moving.

If repeated references to Marcus Garvey and Haile Salassie irritate you, then you’re probably not a reggae fan anyway but there’s a fair dose of righteous consciousness on this album which may deter some. I suppose that’s a bit like complaining about a blues album which bangs on about women doing men wrong. It’s effortlessly good.

UNKLE - Never, Never Land - Island/Mo Wax - 986 554-3

Minus DJ Shadow, this is the second outing of James Lavelle’s orchestrated trip-hop behemoth, UNKLE. Never, Never Land is an album with a vastly different outlook to its predecessor, 1998’s Psyence Fiction. Gone is the ‘Shadowesque’ eccentricity so apparent in UNKLE’s first outing, instead replaced with a far greater focus on melody.

The guest appearances are still present, although their input serves to aid the album’s cohesion as oppose to undermining it. Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), 3D (Massive Attack), and Ian Brown all make worthwhile contributions which maintain the standard of quality you might associate with such artists.

If you were seeking for a soundtrack to set a dark, provocative, and occasionally awe-inspiring film to, this would be it. It has tracks for establishing the equilibrium, disrupting it, subverting it, and establishing a new one, and makes Never, Never Land an album immense in stature.

Robert Plant and Strange Sensation - Mighty Rearranger SANCD356

I've resisted reviewing this as it's been given so much coverage in the press and, frankly, I'm taking a little heat for it among some acquaintances. However it's rarely out of the CD player at the moment. As my neighbour said, it's what Led Zeppelin would sound like now if they were still together and doing great things. And what you think of that should determine whether you listen to it or not. A lot of rhythm, eastern promise, relentless drive...Another Tribe and the title track are among the best in my view. The Guardian review said in his heyday he was not so much a frontman, more a singing erection. He's looking a little droopy these days, but the voice still has it...

(By the way my neighbours work colleague's sister is married to the guitarist. My but it's a small world ...)

Cover Me

I've more than occasionally referred to my penchant for cover versions on here (and I feel been in receipt of some silent derision for it - but then I'm professionally paranoid!) However in the hope of yet making converts I should alert you to Coverville a weekly podcast from the states which unearths some great re-interpretations and shines new light on the old and familiar. Go on, give it a try....

If this site ever gathers momentum, a podcast is the next obvious step. We could circumnavigate the globe...

James Brown - Black Caesar Soundtrack - Polydor 517135; Bernard Purdie - Lialeh Soundtrack - Lita 003

I don’t often buy soundtracks, but I can understand why people buy albums like The Sound of Music or The Benny Goodman Story in enormous quantities. (Perhaps RL might put in a good word for Lift to the Scaffold - see Comments). I’ve had two soundtracks of early 1970s Blaxploitation films for decades; The Final Comedown by Grant Green and The Dynamite Brothers by Charles Earland. Last year, I bought two more, doubling my soundtrack collection.

Much of Black Caesar, from 1974, was written and arranged by Fred Wesley, and much of the music clearly relates to the presumed plot; tracks like Paying The Cost to be The Boss and Down and Out in New York City have obvious connections. Other tracks are less plot-related but do stand up without the film; in particular Brown’s new take on Memphis Slim’s Messin’ with the Blues (which he had already recorded in 1957), has some fine Ellington-style piano playing from him. Brown rarely recorded on piano, so any of the few tracks he made are valuable.

The 1973 soundtrack to Lialeh used to be an incredibly rare item only affordable by Acid Jazz DJs. It has been reissued by an obscure Seattle label, so it looks like the CD will become rare soon. Apparently Lialeh was the first Blaxploitation porn film. The soundtrack is not only very good soul jazz but the inclusion of a very New Orleans funereal version of Pass Me Not, Oh Gentle Saviour reveals, astoundingly, that the film must have had a plot!

Purdie and his band actually performed in the film, in a club scene; there’s a shot on the cover of him trying to play drums with a naked lady grabbing him. Oh, the trials of a jazz musician! - AM

Beck - Guero - Interscope 988027

You never know quite what to expect from Beck, except that, in the words of another Real Reviewer, he is hideously talented so it‘s likely to be good. His previous album Sea Change was slow and sad and one or two of the tracks on Guero have the same dreamy, melancholic quality but the rest are upbeat and hideously catchy.

There are all sorts of influences - hip-hop, Latin and dance - all on display in the first few tracks and he shifts effortlessly from one to other. Listen on the move and he’ll put a new bounce in your stride. Listen somewhere quiet and you’ll be sobered by lines like “I prayed heaven today/would bring down its hammer on me/and pound you out of my head/I can’t think with you in it”.

Etta Jones & Houston Person - A Night In Roppungi - Absorb Music ABCJ338

I am SO glad this album was reissued (November 2004). It first appeared, in Japan only, on the All Art label and this incarnation (also only in Japan) is to be deleted in May 2005. This is Etta’s only live album. She sang on a couple of tracks on Houston’s album “The Real Thing”, at Watts Club Mozambique, Detroit, in 1973, and a couple more with Jug and Sonny at the Famous Ballroom, Baltimore, the same year. That is it for live Etta Jones recordings. So this is an important CD in her career.

It was recorded in March 1990. I saw the same band two months later, in New York. Then, Etta became one of only two musicians who have literally brought tears to my eyes, when she sang I’m Through With Love (the other was Prez). She sings it on this album, with almost the same effect. The other ace track on this is I’m In The Mood For Love which has a wonderful tenor solo which Houston, unlike most other saxophonists, doesn’t try to make into Moody’s Mood For Love.

In addition to Houston, one of the greatest sax players to back singers, there is the little known but inestimable Stan Hope on piano. Hope’s inspiration stems mainly from Garner, not Powell. Live, when he pulls off a particularly felicitous line, he leans back from the piano, a great big, surprised, smile on his face, as if to say, “My! Didn’t that work out nicely?” It’s impossible not to like a guy like that. And there are quite a few felicitous lines in this CD.

You can get it from Mundo, at $25; cheap at half the price -AM

Allan gets Editor's Dispensation on length for anything to do with Etta Jones, Etta James or Houston Person. My apologies for the late posting in view of the deletion date but you should still be able to buy it. I would if I were you.

Johnathan Rice - Extended Player 24:26 - Warner Brothers - 48783

Now while a lazy reviewer (especially one restricted to 150 words) might attempt to review Extended Player 24:26 simply by drawing comparisons with Rice’s namesake Damien. But no not I. This six-track EP is ideal for anyone seeking a talented, single (?) white male, influenced by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young, who’s both reflective and earnest.

Released in the spring of 2004, prior to his first full length LP, 2005’s Trouble is Real, this EP reaches great heights with variation between soft melancholy (Break so easy), up-beat intimacy (if such a thing is possible, Mid November), and bittersweet timidity (standout track the Acrobat). Rice’s unique, almost rustic voice melds contentedly with simplistic, moving guitar rhythms, occasional violins (minus the periodic Irish lilt of Damien’s violins mind) and makes this EP well worth a try.

Not The Same Old Blues Crap 3 - Fat Possum - FP1016-2

I discovered the Fat Possum label from an article in the Sunday Telegraph magazine, of all places. I can only assume it was a mistake of some kind but I remain grateful. In the words of the Telegraph, the label is run by two men who thought that a toothbrush was for cleaning their pistol and, yes, the output is all pretty uncompromising.

This compilation is worth buying for the sleeve notes alone, a sustained rant about the unfairness of life, the selfishness of their top-selling artist who has decided to stop touring (he's 72 and has led, well, a colourful life) and the perversity of his replacement who rapidly contracted a terminal disease and, well, died.

As for the music - it's definitely not the same old blues crap. There's Bob Log, Iggy and The Stooges, and The Black Keys among others and, I'm glad to say, two tracks by R L Burnside. There's a marvellous photo of R L on one of his LPs, in his kitchen, beaming from ear to ear because he's wrapped a heavy chain and padlock around his fridge to stop his relatives stealing his food. You see where they're coming from?

Deodato - Preludes and Fugues - Raven RVCD117

Deodato’s Prelude has been reissued as a single CD by CTI; however this CD, made in Australia, also contains Deodato 2. Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001) from Prelude represents the start of Disco; its lush orchestration over nine minutes of funky Latin rhythms were the template for almost everything that followed. The beginnings of anything are of interest but this CD has actually got solos which, after thirty years, still sound interesting. And the sound, particularly played very loudly, as it was supposed to be in 1973, is fantastic. Of course, it’s a Rudy Van Gelder job.

Disco is generally reckoned to be dead naff nowadays, but a lot of good jazz musicians made a lot of money out of it. At the peak of the movement, 85 jazz albums made the Billboard Pop or R&B album charts in 1975; 92 in 1976; and 82 in 1977; most of them Disco albums. Jazz hadn’t been so popular since the swing era - AM

Ernie Payne – Coercion Street – Black & Tan B&T019

Unsung singer....

Ernie Payne has apparently gone unheard and unrecognised for most of his long career but he seems to have put that to rights with this album and his recent performance on Andy Kershaw’s programme will have won him even more fans.

He comes from Louisiana and he plays and sings the blues. His voice has just the right blend of edge and depth and his guitar and dobro playing employs rock and country influences. His performance on this album is effortless and intimate and draws you in from the first track, from the slower, gospel-tinged numbers to the rocky Nothing Wrong With Texas (that leavin’ won’t fix). I’d say he’s gone from unheard to unsurpassed.

Duke Ellington - Piano in The Foreground - Columbia/Legacy 512920

I heard this album in the mid-sixties, but it was already deleted. I’ve waited forty years for its reissue.

I can’t be bothered with Duke’s big band stuff, except for some commercial records, such as Main Stem, which spent four weeks at number 1 on the R&B charts in 1944. But when he plays in a small group, there are few funkier pianists. The standout tracks here are Summertime and So, from the original 1961 LP, and Piano Improvisation no 1; a 1957 bonus track which is nearly ten minutes of slow, funky blues playing. (Of course, there are a few Debussy-style tracks as well.)

James Brown is the only other pianist I’ve heard who can pull down strange chords from the outermost reaches of the galaxy into a twelve bar blues and keep the groove as low down and dirty as Ellington. This is NOT what we’re told about Ellington! (It’s not what we’re told about Brown, either.)- AM

Wild Bill Moore - Bottom Groove - Milestone MCD47098

According to Bill Haley, and generally accepted by historians, Moore made the first Rock ‘n Roll record, We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna Roll, in 1947. Apparently, he was the first tenorman to gyrate so much he split his trousers. Moore was a Texas tenor player, involved in Bebop in LA in 1946, who moved to Detroit in 1947 and recorded his hit single. Later, he played the solo on Marvin Gaye’s Mercy Mercy Me, and even later, sitting in with Houston Person at Watts Club Mozambique, blew Person right off stage!

This CD contains both LPs he made for Jazzland in 1961. The first, Wild Bill’s Beat has Jr Mance on piano; the second, Bottom Groove, Johnny “Hammond” Smith on organ. There is only one ballad but a lot of blues and funky jump numbers. And Moore’s playing is as gut-rending as anything I’ve ever heard. After decades of mono, it’s nice to hear this in stereo - AM

The Concretes - The Concretes - ASW 71126

The first album from this Swedish outfit and they start off sounding strangely like Throwing Muses. Then you realise there's a lot more to them and a good thing too. They've got real pop sensibility and they avoid the dreariness of the Muses with some nice changes of pace and a wide variety of instruments, from organ to brass, never used gratuitously. On Warm Night they show they're not afraid of taking the obvious and making something of it.

You get the feeling someone really knew what they were doing when they made this record and the rather classy cd cover and video confirms that they're going for a distinctive sound,look and feel. But they're not pretentious and the songs are fresh and catchy.

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains (Towerblock 005)

Ulrich Schnauss - Far Away Trains

So many people told me to get this that I eventually succumbed and went to Amazon. It has been deleted, but is sometimes available second hand from the Marketplace. These days this stuff is called chill out - but this is of a higher than average quality. At its worst this kind of electronic noodling sounds like the kind of thing sold in garden centres or played in complementary health shops in the mistaken view it relaxes when actually pure vacuousness raises the blood pressure to dangerous heights. However, Ulrich S never tips into that realm, always offering a surprising turn, grin-inducing rythmn and originality. I also detect a tinge of Terry Riley's "A Rainbow in Curved Air" (Sony 4778492) - but then ever since I first heard that masterpiece in 1972 under the blankets played in its full 18 minute glory by John Peel, I have heard intimations of it in all sorts of places over the years - Soft Machine, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Mike Oldfield, Eno, King Crimson, The Who's Baba O'Riley, Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert, running in a direct line towards trip hop, dance and trance. Back to Ulrich: it's high class ambient music that can soothe the soul after a tough commute and remind you there is a more beautiful and fascinating life than the A3 in the fog.

Ernie Andrews and Cannonball Adderley - Live Session - Capitol 7243 5 97934

Ernie Andrews first recorded in 1945, but despite having a couple of albums on which he sang guest vocals, I ignored his albums until Houston Person began producing them for HighNote in 1997. Ernie is a great Soul Jazz singer – still at 75.

More than any other jazz singer, Ernie sings songs you haven’t heard, or songs you haven’t heard sung. The material on this album, recorded in 1962 and 1964, comes from R&B; fifties Rock & Roll (would you believe Frankie Vaughn’s first hit?); Soul Jazz (Sam Jones’ Del Sasser, Marv Jenkins’ Big City, and Work song); Motown; and Swing. In fact, the only song on the album from the "Great American Songbook” is Bill Bailey.

It’s not only what he sings. Ernie sings with soul, power, humour and acid sarcasm, sometimes self-deprecating (“I’m a born world shaker”). And when he does something totally naff, like Green Door, you realise that even this can be made to mean something. The band is quite good - AM

Jim White - Drill A Hole In That Substrate and Tell Me What You See - Luaka Bop 68089-90055-2

I'm a big fan of Jim White's two previous albums, No Such Place and Wrong-Eyed Jesus. They're full of strange imagery and stories, no doubt the product of the hard and tragic times he went through before David Byrne took him on his label. For instance, he used to wake up handcuffed to a fence in Mississippi after his girlfriend had taken his car; or because there was a vengeful ghost at the foot of his bed; or to find that his lover had stabbed him and he was bleeding to death in a forest.

So I was initially disappointed to find on the first track of this album that he now awakes to a "sweet summer rain". In bed. Without any spectres. It almost sounds as though he's happy. Then he bounces back with the lonely picture of a phone box in heaven (but no-one's calling) and he tells us that we can't get there on borrowed wings, stolen from sleeping angels. Taken out of context, this might sound trite but the songs work. He may have mellowed, but he's got more musicality and poetry in his little finger than most musicians have in their whole body and this is a great listen. Buy all three albums is my advice.

Gerald Albright Live at Birdland West - Atlantic 82334

I bought Albright’s Bermuda Nights twelve years ago in a record fair, to see what he was like. Ooooo, he’s a bit smoooooth; haven’t played it much. In Kelly’s the other day, I picked up this one. Hmm, Impressions to start off with; Georgia On My Mind; Limehouse Blues – not heard anyone do that for ages; good blokes with him; not thousands. So I did what I very seldom do; listened to a bit.

Wow! Not even moderately smooooth. Albright’s burnin’, wailin’, screamin’ from the bottom. These geezers who follow Grover Washington can PLAY, though they don’t usually, so you gotta watch ‘em. This, in 1991, was the first Albright album that didn’t make the R&B charts, and most of the later albums have done better than this, so it’s clear where the rent’s coming from.

Only half is live; five are studio tracks, but he’s still playing - AM

Gillian Welch - Revival (Acony 50466 68742)

Well as a previous post was about something found in the bottom of a box I thought I'd review this from 1996 - found as I cleared out the car. I'd bought it a long time ago in a sale and never played it. My loss. Gillian Welch and guitarist David Rawlings are at the forefront of new country. Rawlings electric country guitar, including rasping feedback at times, is wonderfully balanced with more traditional slide guitar. And Welch's songs are are a treat. My favourite - Barroom Girls with the great opening lyric:
"Oh the night came undone like a party dress
And fell at her feet in a beautiful mess
The smoke and the whiskey came home in her curls
And they crept through the dreams of the barroom girls."
Paper Wings and Tear My Stillhouse Down find themselves oft repeated as well. If I had a Friday night music show in, say, New South Wales (or old South Wales come to that), she would be a regular feature.

Sound Soundtrack Tracks

Who on earth buys CDs of soundtracks? I mean, honestly, they are either cynically commercial or meaningless without the, um, pictures. Ridiculous notion. Except for some of us (well, me at least) who can still remember with fondness the advantages of sampler albums (Rock Machine Turns You On, Bumpers, Rockbuster etc) they can perform a similar function. So the soundtrack to Before Sunset introduced me to Kathryn Williams, Kath Bloom and Kathy McCarty (not often you get a full set of Kaths) all of whom are worth discovering. The Garden State soundtrack introduced me to a great song by Colin Hay (ex of Men at Work for those Down Under)and some Zero 7 and Nick Drake which had previously eluded me. The Vanilla Sky CD gave me Sigur Ros (early) Looper and Red House Painters. And the soundtrack to The Insider (Michael Mann at his best by the way) has some great Jan Garbarek and Lisa Gerrard with Pieter Bourke. I like to think I have benefited from the hard application of the directors to be surprising and non-derivative. On the other hand, I may just be sad. My kids certainly think so.
On the subject of Samplers, they now come free on the front of magazines. The Word has some of the best of them. Not least for introducing me to Rilo Kiley. It's a great magazine from the reliable stable of David Hepworth and Mark Ellen which is now also Webcast as Word Radio! (for a fiver a month)

Ron Carter - Orfeu - Blue Note 7243 5 22490 2

This 1999 album is part of a deal between Blue Note and HighNote, which resulted in Ron’s third album of duets with Houston Person. It’s not duets though; with Bill Frisell on guitar, Stephen Scott on piano, Payton Crossley (who?) on drums and the veteran Steve Kroon on percussion, it’s an album of Ron’s interpretation of the music of Brazil. The only two Brazilian tunes, however, are two Luis Bonfa compositions from Black Orpheus. The rest, apart from Dvorak’s Goin’ Home, frequently interpreted in Latin mode, are Carter’s tunes.

The band doesn’t try to convey the exhuberant side of Brazilian music but the melodic approach. The result is as serene an album as some of those by Cesaria Evora. It’s the best Blue Note album I’ve heard since EMI re-activated the label in 1985 -AM

CocoRosie - La Maison de Mon Reve - Touch and Go TG253CD

This is what you get when you take two American sisters writing and recording an album in a small Paris flat with no hot water. It’s a collection of frail, fractured songs with a fine collection of found sounds - frogs (quite possibly), throat clearing, and water dripping on a saucepan lid (definitely), to list but a few. The overall effect of that, and their crackling voices, is eerie but there’s always a strong melody to carry them through. Mind you, Sara said listening to it was her idea of hell.

But if more than 25 per cent of Americans had passports and used them for this sort of thing, rather than relying on tanks to get them into foreign countries, perhaps the world would be a better place. In this case, their travel has certainly broadened my mind.

Jimmy Smith - The Boss - Verve V6-8770

This is the most definitive Soul Jazz I’ve ever heard. Recorded in November 1968 in Paschal’s La Carousel Club in Atlanta, and issued in America in 1970, it’s the only one of Smith’s Verve releases not issued in Britain. Verve was sold to Polydor soon afterwards, so it disappeared until last year. It’s theoretically available in Britain, but I had a copy on order from Spillers for months, before I gave up and got an American copy the other day.

The band was really ON IT; George Benson plays better than usual, though not at his peak; Donald Bailey swings as ever; and Smith is inspired. Throughout the album, he plays stuff like nothing I’ve ever heard him attempt.

What makes this album definitive Soul Jazz is not the music but the exceptionally well-recorded audience. It’s muted during This Guy’s in Love With You, so I guess that was recorded before the club filled up. During the other four cuts, the audience is very loud and, to its eternal credit, seems to be completely ignoring what’s happening on the bandstand, except for a couple of dozen enthusiasts upfront. It sounds exactly like Friday night at Wetherspoon’s; a continuous babble of voices as people party the night away. This album makes it absolutely clear that the purpose of Smith and Co having been hired was to accompany the party. And that is the essence of Soul Jazz. No wonder they never issued it in Britain.

The CD is a missed opportunity. Several tracks fade out halfway through solos and there are five un-issued tracks from the gig - AM

African Dope Soundsystem

As Amazon still hasn’t sent the cds I‘ve ordered with some of money I’ve just earned, you’d better have a review of this instead. African Dope Soundsystem describes itself as “a tight collaboration of Capetonian dub, reggae and dancehall DJs, MCs, live and electronic musicians, studio producers and video artists” and it’s pretty damn good.

I’m particularly fond of Teba’s nuskool reggae and Felix Laband’s downtempo efforts. As well as biogs and album listings, you’ll find samples and free downloads of complete tracks in a particularly lively package. It’s for the stuff like this that the Internet was made.

Kankawa and Hiram Bullock - Jam Jam The Heavy Cats Live At STB139 Roppungi, Tokyo - Cool River NNJC6003

Some jazz pundit once wrote “the material is immaterial”. If so, why aren’t there albums like Merry Christmas from Miles Davis or Stan Getz plays Abba? Bullock has been a well-known jazz session guitarist since 1977, on everything from disco to avant garde jazz. Kankawa is a Japanese organist whose avowal of bringing the power of rock to jazz has led to an OTT dress code and eccentric sunglasses (six lenses facing in different directions) that would make George Clinton blink.

On this record, the material is not even slightly immaterial. Apart from two Kankawa originals, the material all comes from the world of rock, be that Miles Davis’ Jan Jan, Abba’s Venus, or Deep Purple’s Smoke on The Water. Bullock sings quite a bit – soul style mostly – and plays very appropriate heavy guitar solos. And Kankawa makes the most of the opportunities provided by A Whiter Shade of Pale. Hot enough for central heating!

Available from Mediawars
US$30 – deletion date 3 March 2005 - AM

Various - Disco sucks - Che Trading CHE60CD

Years ago, when I was living in London and participating in dotcom malarkey, I helped a chap I was working with move house. His big brother ran Che records and gave me a good handful of CDs as a thank-you. I played the Disco Inferno to death, since the idea of an ambient-shoegazy Joy Divison appealed immensely. However for reasons unknown, this CD slid to the bottom of a pile, and thence to the bottom of a box where it's been until yesterday. It's... A damn fine snapshot of indie-land from 1996. A pre-electronic Bis do twee, Bardo Pond and The Delgados do the loud-quiet-loud-quiet thing, Fuxa are hypnotic, Merzbow reverses a half-track playstation shop over a metal 'nite' in a suburban pub... And then there's Exit. Imagine Test Dept playing one note on several sets of brass bagpipes for four minutes. An utterly marvellous racket that makes the Merzbow track seem a paragon of cheerful tunefulness by comparison.

Les McCann – Vibrations Funkin' Around With Something Old, Something New – Pony Canyon PCCY-30068

This is Les’ fourth album since his first stroke in 1995, and the first since then with his own band. Amazingly, it’s one of his best ever. He’s now using some kind of keyboard, the sustain powers of which mean that his slower fingering doesn’t sound awkward. As ever, his character shines through everything he does. There’s a lot of his old material in this: “Compared to What” - as relevant as in 1966; the President’s still got his war. But there is new stuff. “Passion World”, a Wayne Shorter tune with words by Gene McDaniels (who wrote “Compared to what”) is very interesting, as is “It’s you” a song Les wrote with Jon Hendricks.

The band is wonderful, particularly Keith Anderson, a young Turrentine-influenced tenor player, who has been with Les since 1991. Donald Dean, and Stan Gilbert who first worked with Les in the sixties, swing as hard as ever.

Available from Mediawars
US$30 – deletion date 3 March 2005 - AM

www.music-map.org

I just discovered this website and thought I would pass it on as it's fun to play with. You type in an artist you like and it creates a map of other artists that are in some way similar. It works by an algorithm (or should that be algo-rythmn?)that is used to map random elements in forensic investigation (apparently).

Some of the closest features in any map may seem contentious, but equally it may make connections or suggest new artists that you wouldn't otherwise have reached...which I suppose is what maps are partly for.

Sekou Bembeya Diabate - Guitar Fo - Discorama WVF479016

Sekou is thought of by the Mandinke in much the same way as jazz fans regard John Coltrane; as the man who turned their music inside out and made of it an exciting, contemporary, popular music. This reputation is mainly deserved, though some of the credit must go to Sekou’s cousin, Papa Diabate, for the concepts that Sekou and Bembeya Jazz National so brilliantly implemented.

This is only the third album Sekou has made as a leader or joint leader, in over forty years of being the leading light of Guinean music. Like the others, it blends the lyrical serenity of traditional Mandinke music with the excitement of Jazz, Funk and Soul music. A new departure for Sekou is that he sings on several tracks. His voice has such charm and personality that one wonders why he didn’t take over as Bembeya Jazz’ vocalist after the death of Aboubacar Demba Camara. A beautiful and joyous album -AM

Various - Music From The OC Mix 2 - Warners B00063MCSE

Something different for the New Year. Apparently, if you’re an aspiring indie band, then you've just got to get one of your songs on the soundtrack of the TV soap The OC. It’s about a young lad, Ryan, who grows up on the wrong side of the tracks in Chino (all of Chino is on the wrong side of the tracks) and gets to live with his lawyer in prosperous Orange County.

This compilation is a good way to try bands ranging from Dios Malos to Beulah, via the Super Furries. Interpol contribute a cracking track; Nada Surf a disappointing one; and there‘s an anodyne version of Maybe I‘m Amazed from Cardiff‘s Jem. Overall, it has a slightly wistful air, in keeping with the expression of Ryan’s face when pondering his latest scrape and the possibility of return to Chino where, as The Mountain Goats have it, the asphalt sprouts.

Norman Simmons - In Private - Savant SCD2056

Norman Simmons has had an interesting career as a back seat driver. He’s mainly known for the first hard bop big band arrangements on Johnny Griffin’s pioneering 1960 album, Big Soul Band. Most of his career has been as pianist and, usually, musical director to jazz singers: Betty Carter; Carmen McRae; Anita O’Day; Chris Connor; Joe Williams et al. Since Williams died in 1999, Simmons has moved forwards; this is his third CD for Savant.

Most of it was recorded in the small hours in a hotel lobby in Japan and feels wonderful. But Caravan is a masterpiece. Simmons thinks the normal approach to this tune, with the band charging across the desert, is “unrealistic”. He imagines carrying the load across endless sands. But the way it comes out, for me, is a (delicate) slow grind/belly rub, with a Bolero rhythm set down by Paul Humphrey’s brushes, Lisle Atkinson’s bass booming out the riff to A Love Supreme, and Simmons full of eastern promise. What a sexy groove! - AM