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CDs of the week

Arcade Fire: Neon Bible

Willy Mason: If the Ocean Gets Rough

The Stooges: The Weirdness

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This week sees the release of new albums by Montreal's ludicrously hip Arcade Fire plus Willy Mason and the return of the Stooges.

POP

Arcade Fire
Neon Bible (Sonovox)
****

While Montreal's ludicrously hip Arcade Fire may be undone by the inevitable backlash, their bubble isn't ready for bursting just yet. This second album is brimming with ideas, some of them silly (the pointlessly pared down Antichrist Television Blues), but most of them inspired, not least the fabulous Intervention, which is probably the track of their lives. Beginning with Bach-esque keyboards, it soars into a modern-day hymn of despair and redemption - with, literally, bells on - which is as exhilarating as it is exhausting. Nothing quite matches that, although the bass on Ocean of Noise and a radical reworking of their 2003 track No Cars Go come close. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

Willy Mason
If the Ocean Gets Rough (Virgin)
****

The son of two folk singers, Willy Mason released a minor classic in 2005 with Oxygen, an idealistic protest song in the traditional mould. The single's success has given the 22-year-old the confidence to be more ambitious on this second album. A leisurely acoustic strum is still the dominant sound alongside his low, placid voice, but now it is joined by mandolin on the world-weary The World That I Wanted, bar room piano on We Can Be Strong and mournful viola on Simple Town. While upbeat opener Gotta Keep Walking maintains his first record's enthusiasm for a life of perpetual motion, elsewhere Mason sounds much less cheerful. There may be no songs about his cat this time, but these 11 tracks offer weightier pleasures. DAVID SMYTH

The Stooges
The Weirdness (Virgin)
***

The Stooges were last heard from in 1973 when they released their masterpiece Raw Power, and then did not so much break up as self-obliterate. It would take an utter churl not to welcome them back 34 years later, with most of the original parts miraculously intact. Iggy Pop, who gave up pumping drugs for pumping iron many moons ago, takes no time in unloading that unmistakable persona on the listener, the opener Trollin' serving up a delectable mix of high culture, base filth and knowing asides. Ron and Scott Asheton's uncomplicated technique - on guitar and drums respectively - has not progressed one jot. Sometimes, as on the title track, the effect can be thrilling; on other occasions, the songs sound like they have popped out of a time warp and should be sent straight back. PETE CLARK

Tracey Thorn
Out Of The Woods (Virgin)
***

Way before Everything But The Girl discovered dance music and had a hit with Missing, Tracey Thorn was a member of a shambolic all-girl group called Marine Girls. Around the same time - 1982 - she released what was until now her only solo album, the wondrous A Distant Shore. A mere quarter of a century later she's released her follow-up, Out Of The Woods. If it's not a patch on A Distant Shore, it's still a fertile enough set, hanging heavy with lush strings and ripe beats. Nowhere Near is a hazy ballad with the lyrical emphasis on being a wife and mother rather than a lovelorn teenager. It's a creative avenue she should explore further. PAUL CONNOLLY

The Horrors
Stranger House (Loog)
****

There's something rather thrilling about a band that cites as its influences Joe Meek, The Fall, Screaming Lord Sutch and The Cramps. I also find it difficult not to like a band that numbers among its members Faris Rotter, Coffin Joe and Spider Webb. Of course, all this wouldn't matter if The Horrors weren't also bloody great. They're Gothic, for sure, and they talk of limbs being hacked and suchlike, but it's done with such relish and effervescence, not to mention some great tunes, that it's not in the least bit menacing. Indeed I'm sure I detect some mutant DNA from The B-52s in the band's genetic make-up. They'll never have a radio hit but it's surely enough that they're rock's Christina Ricci to the Hilary Duff that is James Morrison. PAUL CONNOLLY

Grinderman
Grinderman (Mute)
****

After 20-odd years of being the brooding lord of avant rock, Nick Cave suddenly found himself worryingly close to success when critics hailed 2004's Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus as a masterpiece. Now he's back with Grinderman, essentially a renamed Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. You'd have to look back to the late Eighties Cave to find anything so vicious as Grinderman's desecrated blues-rock. If Cave is no longer so angry, the mock outrage of a song like No Pussy Blues is so OTT that it's pretty hard to be disappointed. Does it top Abattoir Blues...? Not really. Will you care when it's blasting out at top volume? Not even slightly. ANDRZEJ LUKOWSKI

JAZZ

Renato D'Aiello
Sintetico (33 Jazz Records)
****

Since arriving in London in 1999, tenorist Renato D'Aiello has been treating listeners to melodic, straight-ahead jazz that radiates the warmth of his native Naples. Steeped in such neglected post-bop masters as Hank Mobley and Dexter Gordon, he avoids empty technical displays. Instead, his solos tell a story. Their lines unfold with a natural flow, especially on the ballads (For Heaven's Sake, A Portrait of Jenny). Joining him are US drummer Keith Copeland and two fellow Italians, deepgrooving double-bassist Nicola Muresu and pianist Andrea Pozza. The title track - "synthesised" rather than "synthetic" - is one of four worthy originals on a mature and laid-back album. JACK MASSARIK

WORLD

Vieux Farka Tourè
Vieux Farka Tourè (World Village)
****

The king is dead, long live the king! The great guitarist Ali Farka Touré died a year ago and, while his son, Vieux, will find it impossible to fill his shoes - particularly after Ali's sublime final album, Savane - he has still delivered a remarkable debut disc. Even more remarkable is the fact that Ali initially forbade his son to follow a musical career and only accepted it later. Ali does lend his guitar gravitas to two tracks - some of the last recordings he made before his death - and Vieux does some sublime guitar duets with kora player Toumani Diabaté which are the highlights of the disc. A pair of reggae and funk tracks show Vieux's younger and wider musical horizons. SIMON BROUGHTON

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