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CDs of the week
19.06.09Pop
Gossip
Music for men (Columbia)
****
Receiving a new LP from this group is somehow life-affirming: it proves that Gossip are not just a cynical marketing tool to promote the articulate — though hardly eloquent or interesting — views of singer Beth Ditto, who appears to believe that being a well-padded, nudist-inclined lesbian is something to shout about in the modern age.
Get over it, Beth.
The good news is that Music For Men is an excellent aid to wearing out that disgusting rug in your front room.
Employing the services of Rick Rubin as producer was a good move. This is a man who has forged a career through being able to differentiate style from substance.
Thus we get to appreciate the chunky guitar of Brace Paine and the clumping drums of Hannah Billie, for whom the word syncopation is evidently anathema.
There must also be a mention of Beth Ditto's vocals, which have, more than a touch of Dolly Parton in the delivery. If first single Heavy Cross has more than a passing resemblance to Gossip's past and only triumph then the rest more than make up for it.
The opening Dimestore Diamond is a gem, while 8th Wonder will fill dancefloors until the apocalypse. Love Long Distance has the cheek to pinch Marvin Gaye's bum.
Gossip is a wonderful concept, touching on the Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the Glitter Band.
Their only intention is to get you off your behind and dance, and in this respect they have succeeded. If you don't find yourself grinning foolishly to this album while taking a twirl round the room, then you are probably a tree.
Pete Clark
God Help the Girl
God Help the Girl (Rough Trade)
****
Belle and Sebastian are still with us but leader Stuart Murdoch is a restless soul, hence God Help the Girl, a somewhat skimpy tale based on the travails of a dysfunctional, obsessive woman. The joy, though, is in the telling, so Murdoch is joined by a 45-piece orchestra, a few fellow Belle and Sebastianers, The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon and some singers who auditioned online but don't sound as if they've come straight from Britain's Got Talent. The soaring Musician Please Take Heed and Perfection as a Hipster rank among Murdoch's finest work but almost all the 14 songs punch above their weight, resulting in that rare thing: an album where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
John Aizlewood
Jack Peñate
Everything is New (XL)
****
It's the old Oasis tactic: promoting the brilliance of your new album by admitting that the last one was a bit rubbish. Londoner Jack Peñate has a point when he speaks of disappointment with Matinee, his 2007 debut. Its irrepressibly chirpy rockabilly grated all too quickly. But he has another, rather brilliant trick up his checked sleeve: a follow-up that unites African hi-life guitars, dancefloor beats and echo-loaded keyboards with multiple lovely melodies. He's become less hyperactive, with Tonight's Today and Pull My Heart Away offering head-nodding, mid-paced grooves. Songs such as Body Down and the title track are barely recognisable from the leg-jiggling irritant of old, which is a great thing. This is a career-saving left turn.
David Smyth
Christina Courtin
Christina Courtin (Nonesuch)
***
A graduate of New York's prestigious Juilliard School, the well-connected violinist-cum-singer-songwriter Christina Courtin has famous friends such as Heartbreaker Benmont Tench, sessioneer extraordinaire Jim Keltner and the ubiquitous Jon Brion gracing her debut album. She prefers the viola to the violin here and she's fashioned her own hushed little world, not entirely dissimilar to Regina Spektor's, albeit without the flashes of wonder. At Courtin's most entrancing — the country flavoured Foreign Country, the unspeakably gorgeous Blue Jay — she's is clearly a major talent in waiting and once she grows out of her tendency to meander, she might prove it.
John Aizlewood
Jazz
Freddie Hubbard
Without a Song (Blue Note)
*****
A tragic lip injury ruined Freddie Hubbard's career years before he died last December at 70, yet his influence remains enormous. Recently discovered tapes of a European tour in 1969, when he was in his majestic prime, remind us that the essence of contemporary trumpet style still comes directly from him. Fronting Ron Carter and Louis Hayes on bass and drums and the underrated Roland Hanna on piano, he is suave on ballads (Body and Soul, The Things We Did Last Summer) and amazing on burners such as Blues by Five, Hub-tones and the title track. This is jazz trumpet at its hip, joyful and technically stunning best.
Jack Massarik
