Tracey Chapman's sweet and earnest melodies might touch a lost chord and Tony Christie puts out the finest Sheffield album since The Human League's Dare...

POP
Tracy Chapman
Our Bright Future (Elektra)
***
It's been 20 years since Fast Car first alerted the world to Tracy Chapman. Eight albums later, not a lot has changed. That voice is intact, although her lyrical concerns are now more focused on love. A posse of veteran players ensure that Our Bright Future has a professional sheen, everything tasteful and underplayed. This type of well-mannered pop/folk is perhaps not to everyone's taste, but if you are in a quiet mood, these sweet and earnest melodies might touch a lost chord.
PETE CLARK

Tony Christie
Made in Sheffield (Decca/Autonomy)
****
Lost in cabaret since his 1970s heyday, Tony Christie was resurrected by (Is This the Way to) Amarillo, a reminder that he is one of the great British vocalists. Lovingly produced by Richard Hawley, Made in Sheffield sounds like a Hawley album with a better singer. Along the way, Christie covers Sheffielders known — Arctic Monkeys, Hawley, The Human League, Pulp — and unknown. Add two originals and we have the collection of the 65-year-old's career and the finest Sheffield album since The Human League's Dare.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

The Matthew Herbert
Big Band
There's Me and There's You (Accidental)
**
Matthew Herbert's is an experimental production boffin whose most mainstream work was with Björk and Roisin Murphy. Previously he's made albums of noises made by the human body, and now he's completed his second Big Band album. Noises incorporated include clattering US presidential campaign pin badges and matches rattling in the Houses of Parliament. The problem is, we wouldn't know if we weren't told. Subtle touches are overwhelmed by the brass and drama queen vocals, and the warped showtune stylings can easily
irritate.
DAVID SMYTH

JAZZ
Take Six
The Standard (Heads Up)
*****
For richness, range and precision, nobody does male-vocal bonding better than the funky supergroup who hit the London Jazz Festival on 16 November. As Alabama college students, they began creating six-part harmonies on any line, with hip handclaps as optional extras. Here they mix gospel (Shall We Gather by the River?) with jazz standards (Sweet Georgia Brown) and soul (What's Goin On). It's close-harmony heaven.
JACK MASSARIK

WORLD
Seun Kuti
Many Things (Tôt ou Tard Records)
****
Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti, who died in 1997. Fela was an impossible act to follow and while his other son, Femi, has forged his own path, it's taken Seun until now, aged 26, to release his debut. But the spirit is there — with the punchy horns, and powerful rhythms. Against this funky backdrop are the upfront political lyrics of Think Africa, Na Oil and African Problems. The disc is good but the power of the 12-piece live band is better and they play at Cargo on 14-15 December.
SIMON BROUGHTON