Reviews

Inside Reviews

Album: Air, Love 2 (Virgin) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

Air's course over the past decade has been rather mixed, with frequent lapses into unappetising prog-rock stodge, and a heavy-handed concept-album about electronic music that managed to drain away any excitement remaining in the subject.

Album: Alasdair Roberts, The Wyrd Meme (Drag City) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

Following hard on the heels of Spoils comes the second offering this year from Alasdair Roberts, an EP of four long tracks that brilliantly bears out the conjunction of ancient and modern, mythical and analytical, in the title The Wyrd Meme.

Album: Barbra Streisand, Love Is the Answer (Columbia) (Rated 2/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

Despite their widely trumpeted achievements, the likes of Madonna and Mariah Carey have some way to go before they acquire the kind of career momentum wielded by Barbra Streisand, whose debut appeared in 1963 and whose last studio album – 2005's Guilty Pleasures, written and produced by Barry Gibb – sold more than 300,000 units in the UK alone.

Album: Animal Kingdom, Signs and Wonders (Warner Brothers) (Rated 1/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

The cover to Animal Kingdom's debut, all downcast tones of grey and beige, accurately conveys the bland fare offered by this hotly-tipped new British band.

Album: Kraftwerk, Trans Europe Express (Mute) (Rated 5/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

It's hard to pick a single representative from the eight remastered Kraftwerk albums, but ultimately it has to be 1977's Trans Europe Express, for the way it looks to the past and future as it maps out the present.

First Night: Mott the Hoople, The Apollo, Hammersmith (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

Eyebrows were raised when Mott The Hoople's initial reunion shows at the Hammersmith Apollo sold out so fast that further dates had to be added, and then some more. One expects the likes of Led Zeppelin to inspire fond affection on a sizeable scale, but dear old Mott? Who knew there was such a collective yearning for the glam boogie monsters?

Album: Teitur, All My Mistakes (A&G;) (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 2 October 2009

Faroe Islander Teitur Lassen's UK debut The Singer is one of this year's more arresting releases, its mischievous, emotionally revealing songs employing a thrilling mix of memorable images, inventive chamber-pop arrangements, and deceptive lyrical strategies – most notably the unreliable narrator whose observations suddenly turn in upon themselves to illuminate the singer's own situation.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows, O2 Arena, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Thursday, 1 October 2009

People forget we were a rock'n'roll band and we still are," Cliff maintains. Tonight, it appears it's only rock'n'roll, and, well, Sir Cliff likes it.

Florence + The Machine, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (Rated 5/ 5 )

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Bewitched by a true siren

Orchestre de Poly-Rythmo, Barbican, London (Rated 4/ 5 )

Wednesday, 30 September 2009

We didn't know we'd missed them. TP Orchestre de Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, to give them their full name, have been stars in Benin since 1968, but made their European debut in Paris this month, and were known here if at all for low-key, recent compilation CDs. And yet, from the moment this 11-piece band file on stage, the crowd act as if they have been waiting for them for years. The tremendous show that follows ensures it will be much less than 41 years before they return.

Tinchy Stryder, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Tinchy's not yet into his stride

Golden Silvers outshine Noah and the Whale

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Noah and the Whale and Golden Silvers, The Hospital Club, London

The Phenomenal Handclap Band, Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Monday, 28 September 2009

Brooklyn's latest hip exports would not have taken long to feel at home on this leg of their current tour. They were playing a part of town full of diners displaying that squirty Yank mustard on every table and offering extravagant brunches.

Album: Mariah Carey, Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel (Mercury) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 25 September 2009

Once upon a time, Mariah Carey's albums had infantile titles like Butterfly, Rainbow, Glitter and Charmbracelet – sickly-sweet enough to be some pre-teen cartoon superheroine line-up.

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