CDs of the week

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Late blooming: Lucinda Williams' eighth album is her bleakest so far

This week's CD round-up includes a Miles Davis quintet, Lucinda Williams bleakest album to date and the latest offering from veteran band The Fall.

POP

Of Montreal
Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
(Polyvinyl Records)
****
This is the eighth album from the flamboyant group from Athens, Georgia, named in honour of a relationship the singer, Kevin Barnes, had with a girl from Montreal. If you think that's silly, wait till you hear their song titles. Pretentiously titled tracks such as Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse combine the bookish foppery and fey harmonies of the Flaming Lips with grittier rock sensibilities. Unlike Of Montreal's previous work, these songs draw heavily on personal experience. Cato as a Pun combines a cathartic lament about a dismal relationship with a satisfyingly tight fusion of synth pop and minimal early Sixties rock. Equally passionate, but much funnier, is Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider, a ska-tinged rant against girls. Sometimes the emotional outpourings stray into embarrassing sixth-form territory. But that's all part of this album's over-the-top charm. Chris Elwell-Sutton

Lucinda Williams
West (Lost Highway)
****
Late-blooming singer-songwriter Williams is finding life no easier in middle age; the death of her mother and the end of a stormy relationship have combined to make her eighth album her bleakest so far. The stately strum of opener Are You Alright? is uncharacteristically pretty, before the mood darkens on Mama You Sweet and soon she is singing, "The pain courses through every vein, every limb". Wrap My Head Around That is the darkest place, nine minutes of snaking bass and words of betrayal, and although Come On provides variety by increasing the volume, the raw guitars sound even more pained than the singer's lonely rasp. It's hard going, but the quality of the songwriting shines through even the deepest gloom. David Smyth

The Fall
Reformation! Post TLC
(Slogan/Sanctuary)
***
They may have been banging away for almost 30 years, but The Fall remain undeniably great yet uniquely frustrating. Nobody sings like Mark E Smith (apart from his soul brother Shane MacGowan); few can match his way with words (Insult Song deals firmly with whatever "Los Angeles music" is) or his ability to merge angular guitars with sweeping melody; his Mancunian otherness is as strong as ever. Smith is an alternative national treasure. Alas, he has constantly been felled by his own cheapness. Typically sloppy packaging is forgivable, but making Reformation! Post TLC sound as if it were recorded in a bucket is most certainly not. John Aizlewood

Pop Levi
The Return To Form Black Magick Party (Counter)
***
Retro is usually a bad thing. Just thinking of Ocean Colour Scene's Riverboat Song is enough to make me break out into Steve Marriott-shaped hives. Pop Levi's debut should be really annoying then, borrowing, as he does, so heavily from T Rex and occasionally Led Zeppelin. That he gets away with it is down not only to his sheer chutzpah but also to the fact that Marc Bolan's legacy has gone largely unplundered. The single, Blue Honey, is so brazen it may as well be sporting an afro wig and pixie boots. Its dynamics are pure Children Of The Revolution but the ultra-modern production sheen saves it while Pick-Me-Up Uppercut is just jawdroppingly perfect jerk-pop. An engaging oddity, half genius, half annoying as hell. Paul Connolly, London Lite

Jessica Simpson
A Very Public Affair (Sony BMG)
*
Unlike most of her reality TV star rivals, Jessica Simpson has genuine talent. Her previous albums showed she could sing. Not so A Public Affair. On her frothy pop comeback, Simpson's vocals are so slight, breathy and over-processed they make even Madonna sound like Johnny Cash. Talking of the Material Girl, several songs here steal heavily from her Eighties heyday - had it packed a better hook, the title track could be a Blist remake of Holiday, while Lover In Me takes its tinkling keyboards from Like A Prayer. The Cars-sampling BOY is tame techno-pop. Simpson currently flogs Cheesy Bites on TV.
A Public Affair isn't quite that classy. Lisa Verrico, London Lite

JAZZ

Miles Davis Quintet
The Complete Studio Recordings
(Essential Jazz Classics, EJC55406)
*****
This four-CD Miles Davis set is the most glittering treasure yet reissued under the 50-year rule that yanks all pre-1956 albums into the public domain. Workin', Steamin', Relaxin' and Cookin' (originally on Prestige) and Round About Midnight (CBS) paired a fast-maturing Davis with the fast-developing genius of John Coltrane, powered by the rhythm dream-team of pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Of all the classic Davis albums on collectors' shelves, few are plucked out and replayed more regularly. Two bonus tracks also feature Miles with Gunther Schuller°s brass ensemble. It's a perfect catch-up opportunity for neophytes and a boon for older fans who have worn their vinyl out. Jack Massarik

WORLD

Femi Kuti
The Definitive Collection
(Wrasse Records)
****
There are few musicians who have followed so decisively in their father's footsteps as Femi Kuti. The pioneer of Afro-beat, Fela Kuti died a decade ago but Femi has kept the powerful big-band sound alive and vehemently kicking with honking horns and thundering polyrhythms. The song Traitors of Africa, written in 1992 during the brutally corrupt regime of General Bababgida, directly criticises abuse of power the way his father did. This double album cherry picks some of Femi's greatest tracks - including Fight to Win, Beng Beng Beng and Survival, a song from his now unavailable first album. The second CD includes a selection of popular remixes, and Femi headlines the African Soul Rebels concert at the Barbican next Thursday. Simon Broughton

 

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