CDs of the week: Paul McCartney, Maverick Sabre and Tania Maria

PAUL MCCARTNEY
Kisses on the Bottom
(Mercury)
***

Upon hearing the title there was some trepidation in my bosom as to the contents of this LP. Something about it besmirched good old "thumbs aloft" Macca, arch-advocate of a cup of tea and a sing-song around the old joanna. I need not have worried: the title simply quotes a line from the first song, I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter, and refers to those kisses that appear at the bottom of syrupy missives.

With the exception of two originals, this is a selection of old tunes that Paul grew up loving and, given that he's quite ancient, these are prehistoric. Needless to say, they are immaculately arranged and played with distinction - the upright bass, semi-acoustic guitar, a sussuration of brushed percussion, silken strings, perfectly plinked piano, a flash of guitar from Eric Clapton on Get Yourself Another Fool (can't think who that one might be aimed at...).

And yet. Although pitch perfect, McCartney's voice is wasted on such sentimental codswallop as Inch Worm, It's Only a Paper Moon, The Glory of Love and Accentuate the Positive. Anyone would think he had a new woman in his life. And don't get me started on My Very Good Friend the Milkman. Suffice to say: Warning! May contain whistling. PETE CLARK

MAVERICK SABRE
Lonely are the Brave
(Mercury)
**

The stakes are high for the former Michael Stafford. Already fêted for collaborations with Professor Green and Chase and Status, plus the slinky singles I Need and Let Me Go, the London-Irish son of Hackney's brand of relaxed dubstep seems set to sweep all before him. It's not quite that simple. Not nearly maverick enough, Lonely Are the Brave is too full of filler to make Stafford a real force to be reckoned with right now. Still, he unleashes all sorts of vocal pyrotechnics on Shooting the Stars; No-One deserves to be his third hit single and I Don't See the Sun finds him channelling Al Green, more successfully than you might imagine.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

MARK LANEGAN BAND
Blues Funeral
(4AD)
****

Following a series of unlikely but brilliant collaborations with Scottish folkie Isobel Campbell, the gravelly grunger has returned to the day job. Blues Funeral is his band's first record in eight years - but hopefully they won't leave it that long again. Darkness and danger dominate on this collection of nightmare ballads, delivered in the American's distinctive, 40-a-day husk. Like a great horror film, the album is brilliant at building suspense: songs move like ominous black clouds across the sky; guitars rumble like distant thunder. When the storm breaks on the blues-rock of Riot in My House, it's actually slightly disappointing. The rest is uneasy listening at its finest. RICK PEARSON

TANIA MARIA
Tempo
(naïve)
****

It's easy to typecast Tania Maria as the all-action Brazilian bombshell who starts frantic and builds from there. Here, with only her piano and US double-bass virtuoso Eddie Gomez in support, she emerges as a mature singer-songwriter with a great deal more to offer than a fantastic sense of time. Contrast the richness of her voice on that fine ballad Estate with the breathless little madams currently cluttering the market. Then her keyboard skill, right up alongside fellow piano-and-vocal divas Diana Krall and the late Shirley Horn. She also offers delightful tonal variety, whistling and scatting in unison with her hip right-hand lines, inspiring Gomez to bow his bass like a classical cellist in places. It's top Tania. JACK MASSARIK

SAMBASUNDA QUINTET
Java
(Riverboat)
****

Sadly not much music from Indonesia makes it to these shores, so this album and the quintet's tour are worth catching. The Sambasunda Quintet are a stripped-down chamber version of a much bigger group from Sunda, the western part of Java. It's an area whose music has a languorous, seductive beauty and it's all here in this set of 10 songs. The haunting female voice of Neng Dini Andriatti, the bamboo suling flute and kacapi zither create an eery, delicate sound. The track Paddy Pergi Ke Bandung (Paddy Goes to Bandung) does have a catchy Irish quality, but it's the sparse tracks with lots of space that I find really appealing. They play the Union Chapel on February 12.
SIMON BROUGHTON

AIR
Le Voyage Dans La Lune
(Virgin)
***

Just as Daft Punk's Tron soundtrack was the perfect hook-up between science fiction and space enthusiasts with keyboards, so the retro-minded Air seem well suited to the job of providing new music for a restored colour print of the first ever sci-fi film, Georges Melies's Le Voyage Dans La Lune from 1902. Expanding the 14 minutes of work they did for a Cannes screening into a full album, we miss the chance to link their dreamy sounds to Melies's iconic images here, though new focus is added with gentle vocals from Au Revoir Simone and Victoria Legrand. Air themselves are livelier than usual, especially on the glowering, groovy Sonic Armada. It's an intriguing curio, but not one to relaunch them into pop's stratosphere.
DAVID SMYTH