CDs of the week

Evening Standard   26.09.08

 Add your view

POP

Will Young
Let It Go 19/RCA
**
Perhaps the really surprising thing about Will Young is that while his Pop Idol peers Gareth Gates and Darius Danesh fade from view his average, personality-free voice and clumsy songwriting are still plodding on. Let It Go is his fourth album and some of it, particularly the opening tracks, Changes and Grace, which both feature lavish but spry arrangements and whopping choruses, show genuine craft and quality. Then, inevitably, things freefall into the anodyne, hence the unspeakably syrupy Disconnected (think George Michael but asleep) and Are You Happy, a grisly attempt at a party piece. Surely the game's up now.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

James Morrison
Songs For You, Truths For Me (Polydor)
***
The Best British Male at last year's Brits still labours under James Blunt comparisons and looks remarkably like Coldplay's Chris Martin. But he successfully carves out his own white soul niche on this second album. Clearly a lot of money has been spent on making it sound huge, from the thunderous horns of The Only Night to his showstopping duet with Nelly Furtado, Broken Strings. No matter how overwrought the backdrop, Morrison's throaty roar dominates, though chest-beating ballads such as Once When I Was Little could have benefited from a lighter touch. The Otis Redding-lite of If You Don't Wanna Love Me makes a refreshingly understated highlight.
DAVID SMYTH

Travis
Ode to J Smith (Red Telephone Box)
****
Travis now release music on their own independent label, which becomes apparent a few minutes into their sixth album. Surely no major record company would have permitted the inclusion of the overblown prog-rock pastiche J Smith? Overall, though, their boldness pays off on a concise collection that is characterised by beefier guitars than previously. Where they used to sound thoroughly pleasant, the Scots now offer a more boisterous take on melodic rock. Current single Something Anything has squealing guitar solos and there are even shades of The Kinks on Long Way Down. Twelve years in, Travis have written some of their best tunes.
ANDRE PAINE

JAZZ

George Duke
Dukey Treats (Heads Up )
****
Aural nutrition for the mind, body and soul is how synth virtuoso and all-round groovemaster George Duke describes his latest album and he's not wrong. A crowd-pleaser with a warm personality, he also has a serious side, and the dozen new songs here show the breadth of his artistry and awareness. Fonk Tail is a jokey space odyssey, Sudan an indictment of the horrors of Darfur. Images of Us is a complex instrumental, the title track a slow-funk masterpiece. His soulful support team includes singer Lynn Davis, bass-guitarist Byron Miller, guitarist Jef Lee Johnson, trumpeter Patches Stewart and the mighty Ndugu on drums. No stodge there.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD

Mariza
Terra Mariza (EMI)
****
It's three years since Mariza's last studio album, Transparente, and she's developed a huge following in Portugal and abroad. With Terra Mariza she's made a wise choice to introduce some new flavours but keep fado at the core. There's an exquisite Cape Verdean-style duet with Tito Paris, a flamenco-tinged duet with the husky voiced Concha Buika, both styles that fuse well with fado. Elsewhere, Terra Mariza includes songs about Alfama and Mouraria (fado districts of Lisbon) and a number about the Portuguese guitar with piano accompaniment. Mariza¡¯s voice is unforced and the instrumentation spare with tingling Portuguese guitar from Bernardo Couto and trumpet from Carlos Sarduy.
SIMON BROUGHTON

 

What's on today   What's on tomorrow

Receive our newsletter