London,

CDs of the week

Grand: The Resistance

Outstanding: A Modern Art

Magnificent: A Voice to the People

Quality: The Blueprint 3

Positive energy: Draw the Line

Inspiring: Yeah Ghost

Muse
The Resistance
(Helium 3)
***
Never, I would hazard a guess, has a bigger sound been created for so many by so few. There are only three people in Muse, but the sweeping soundscape they create makes the music of the spheres look like Tin Pan Alley. The Resistance is a grandiose album, one that seeks to inspire astonishment and awe at the most elevated levels. Matt Bellamy is headed for the stars, closely followed by his guitar.

That this should involve sounding like Queen much of the time should not come as a surprise. Freddie Mercury and his merry men were often impatient with the mundane, for ever anxious to smash the glass ceiling of pop and frolic in the heady air of opera and the classics. Thus the opening Uprising whirls away on the Dr Who theme. It would disappear completely if not anchored by thudding, Glitter Band drums.

Lyrical concerns can get submerged in this heady brew, but we can take it that fat cats and wars are bad things, and that, in the end, it’s us against them. Three wealthy boys from Devon are righteous in their indignation. Unnatural Selection stands out as a solid rocker, but on United States of Eurasia and Exogenesis (Pts 1-3), Muse are way out in the realms of gusset-straining vocals soaring above arrangements that are alternately storm-tossed and becalmed.

The thought occurred frequently that these are essentially show tunes, aching for a theatrical context. What price Muse — The Musical? It would blow away We Will Rock You.
PETE CLARK

JAZZ
Claire Martin
A Modern Art
(Linn)
****It’s a treat to hear alto-sax virtuoso Nigel Hitchcock in full flight — and trust Britain’s brightest jazz singer to organise it. Claire Martin always delivers the goods.

She’s got an instinct for outstanding British players — Hitchcock, guitarist Phil Robson, pianist Gareth Williams and bass-guitarist Laurence Cottle, for example — and an ear for the worthiest unsung songs by such as Rebekka Bakken, David Cantor, Michael Franks, Colin Lazzerini, Donald Fagen and Esbjorn Svensson.

Everything, including two new originals by Cottle and Claire herself, is delivered with her attractive mixture of slickness, warmth and humour. Catch her at Ronnie Scott’s on Monday and Tuesday.
JACK MASSARI

WORLD
Topic Records: Three Scores and Ten
A Voice to the People
(Topic)
*****
Topic Records, the oldest independent record label, is 70. These seven CDs, plus a lavishly illustrated book, are a magnificent reminder of its achievement. Following on from the first release, The Man that Waters the Workers’ Beer, sung by Paddy Ryan in 1939, the collection includes well-known names such as Martin Carthy, Richard Thompson and June Tabor.

But there’s so much more to discover — the wonderful Irish singer Margaret Barry plus inspirational sounds from Bulgaria, Albania and Kenya. Check out the concerts at the Southbank Centre tonight and next week.
SIMON BROUGHTON

POP
Jay-Z
The Blueprint 3
(Roc Nation)
****Approaching 40, hip-hop king Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s stock is belatedly soaring in Britain. He’s currently enjoying his first UK number-one single, the supremely catchy Run This Town, and next week he’ll join unlikely pals Coldplay for two Wembley Stadium shows after a solo spot at the Roundhouse.

On his latest album to share a title with his finest hour from 2001, there’s less aggression, less hunger to prove he’s still the best, although he confidently picks apart the failings of his imitators on DOA (Death of Auto-Tune). Otherwise there’s more pop than power. The piano and Alicia Keys chorus of Empire State of Mind sounds like another huge hit, and if it’s not his best work, there’s enough quality here to keep that crown from slipping.
DAVID SMYTH

David Gray
Draw the Line
(Polydor)
***David Gray found enormous success with White Ladder in 2000 after years of toiling as folk’s favourite nearly-man. So the Welshman can be forgiven for taking it easy of late: Draw the Line comes a full four years after his last effort, 2005's patchy Life in Slow Motion. The rest has done him good.

The 41-year-old comes blasting out of the speakers with renewed energy, particularly on the soaring highlight, Stella the Artist. Sadly, the absence of Clune, the drummer whose high-tempo beats were the perfect foil to Gray’s earnest songwriting, makes this a sonically inferior affair, though Annie Lennox is on hand to bring things to a rousing finale on the piano-led duet Full Steam. In sum, it’s his best effort since White Ladder.
RICK PEARSON

ZERO 7
Yeah Ghost
(Atlantic)
***
Four albums and one Grammy nomination into a career which has veered from coffee table to trip-hop, Zero 7’s Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker toyed with giving up as they slipped out of fashion.
Instead, they’ve taken the more manly course of shaking things up a little after long-term chief vocal collaborator Sia Furler fled to work with Christina Aguilera and relaunch her solo career.

Left to their own devices, the Londoners have both ventured further into instrumental territory and recruited a slew of singers including Binns himself. Most notable, though, is Eska Mtungwazi who, especially on the spry Mr McGee, gives Zero 7 a vim and vitality they’ve never previously known, while Martha Tiltson envelopes Pop Art Blue in the sort of stately grandeur that was once their only calling card. They’ve given themselves some breathing space.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

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