CDs of the week

Bob Dylan
Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol.8 (Columbia)
***
Time was when a Bob Dylan bootleg was a truly desirable artefact. I remember searching the stalls in Ladbroke Grove, Soho and Camden Town for taped recordings of his early electric concerts when they shouted "Judas" and he told them they lied. Now, the term has become devalued: an official bootleg is a contradiction in terms. None of the versions of the songs (1989-2006) was considered worthy of release at the time, and one can only imagine that they appear now, in deluxe packaging, so that Bob can make a bob or two. It's not bad: Dylan remains the master of a simple twist of melody and resonant turn of phrase. It's just that this collection should be called Enough Already!
PETE CLARK

JOLIE HOLLAND
The Living and the Dead (Anti)
***
Texan singer Holland has been much praised for her old-time fusion of jazz and blues — she even counts labelmate Tom Waits among her fans. On this fourth album she moves towards a more modern country rock sound. The guitars are turned up to unprecedented levels for her on Corrido Por Buddy and Your Big Hands, though her creamy vocals are still best suited to a more subtle backdrop, as on the plucked guitar and whistling of You Painted Yourself In and the ghostly folk of Fox In Its Hole. She sounds relaxed and occasionally sloppy, especially on a giggly cover of Enjoy Yourself. Investigate her 2004 album Escondida first to hear what she does best.
DAVID SMYTH

JAZZ

Ruthie Culver
Refashioned (Purring Records)
***
Edging into the spotlight this week comes a gentle unassuming artist of subtle appeal and great potential. Ruthie Culver's voice is far from devastating, yet her delivery has a freshness that commands attention. A relaxed stage presence supports this. She performs continental numbers in flawless French and German (good cabaret potential there) and does the Great American Songbook in cut-glass English, which is equally rare. She also scores maximum planet-saving points by recording the album in a solar-powered studio, wrapping it in recycled, bio-degradable packaging and writing The Perfect Dress, a clever song with a PC sting
in its tail.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD

Hector Zazou & Swara
In the House of Mirrors (Crammed Discs)
***
French producer Hector Zazou, who died last month aged 60, was a pioneer of world music fusions. His Songs From The Cold Seas included the first international release of Björk singing in Icelandic and his output embraces a range of styles. On this, his final album, he puts four instrumentalists from Uzbekistan and India — Toir Kuziyev on plucked tanbur, Milind Raikar on violin, Ronu Majumdar on bamboo flute and Manish Pingle on Indian slide guitar — and adds soft electronics and guest instrumentalists. These are sustained musical conversations which never seem to get anywhere. It is slow, meditative, ambient — almost devoid of passion — but somehow fitting as a valedictory statement.
SIMON BROUGHTON