Reviews

Album: Susan Boyle, I Dreamed a Dream (Syco) (Rated 2/ 5 )

The success of Susan Boyle provides an interesting metaphor for the decline of manufacturing in the information stage of late capitalism.

Inside Reviews

Album: Il Divo, An Evening with Il Divo: Live in Barcelona (Syco) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 27 November 2009

The invention of "Operatic Pop" may be Simon Cowell's musical legacy. Togged up in Armani, the quartet Il Divo here run through their repertoire – pop ballads like "Nights In White Satin", "Without You" and "My Way" given Italian translations and belted out with orchestral accompaniment – in front of 20,000 fans in Barcelona.

Album: James Brown, Live at the Garden (Hip-O-Select) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 27 November 2009

Dating from 1967, Live at the Garden was one of James Brown's less auspicious releases, which is why it's taken so long to be reissued in this expanded format. In the first place, it wasn't actually recorded at Madison Square Garden, or even Kew, but at the Latin Casino, a New Jersey supper-club. To approximate the ambience of the larger venue, faked crowd noise was liberally ladled all over it, including a version of "Let Yourself Go" taken from an after-hours rehearsal. To squeeze the 150-minute show on to a 40-minute album, several of the best performances were either truncated or left off entirely, most notably a storming nine-minute version of "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", which captures the Godfather on the cusp of his new funk sound, with Clyde Stubblefield and Jabo Starks's double-drum alliance locking into an ingenious syncopated propulsion of the kind that would, just a few weeks later, produce the seminal "Cold Sweat"; and an extended "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" – though the microphone placement on the strings is so bad they're left buried in the back of the mix. Both are restored on a second disc that also dispenses with the fake crowd noise, leaving one better able to track the lock-tight changes of rhythm, and appreciate the interlocking rhythm guitars of Chank Nolen.

Album: Martin Rev, Stigmata (Blastfirstpetite) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 27 November 2009

With the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Primal Scream, Klaxons, Peaches and Iggy all contributing cover - version tributes to celebrate Alan Vega's 70th, and Suicide's recent ATP NY performance finding them acclaimed as the oldest and most extreme of the festival's 39 participants, the original techno-punk duo's influence still resonates through rock'n'roll.

Album: Tim Easton, Porcupine (New West) (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 27 November 2009

There's a rough-hewn, rootsy charm to Mojave Desert-based singer-songwriter Tim Easton's latest album, recorded in Nashville with a band that pairs his former Ohio punk buddies' rhythm section of drummer Sam Brown and bassist Matt Surgeson with multi-talented guitarist Kenny Vaughan, from Marty Stuart's band.

Album: Rihanna, Rated R (Mercury) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 27 November 2009

In no other field of music does the autobiographical imperative wield as much power as it does in R&B.

Album: The Phoenix Foundation, Happy Ending (Phoenix Foundation) (Rated 5/ 5 )

Friday, 27 November 2009

Led by oddball singer/songwriter Samuel Flynn Scott, Wellington sextet the Phoenix Foundation are surely the most potent band to come out of New Zealand since the far-off days of the Chills.

Andrew Bird, Union Chapel, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Andrew Bird does things with a violin that would make Yehudi Menuhin blush. He picks, he plucks, he strums, he bows – and then he loops each line together to turn a solo performance into what sounds more like a symphony orchestra.

Rodrigo y Gabriela, Hammersmith Apollo, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Dynamic duo win more hearts

Beth Jeans Houghton, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

The next big thing wigs out

Plastiscines, Camden Barfly, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Wednesday, 25 November 2009

For a gig by an all-girl punk-pop band which sings about kissing, lipstick and being bitches, there sure are a lot of men packed into the grotty Camden Barfly. In fact, they make up most of the audience and it doesn't take long to realise why: the band in question, Plastiscines, are four super-hot French girls, like young Françoise Hardys, only with more eyeliner and carefully ripped T-shirts. Of course, the men could be here for the music. Much more likely, they're here to stare.

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