Category: Singers
-
Various: Beating Heart Malawi
This is a hard album to review: it’s for a good cause but the quality is varied. African music goes down well in the Review Corner, the rootsier the better (ideally one player on a two-string guitar and another with krakebs) so this looked promising: traditional music from the International Library of African Music remixed…
-
Phil Collins: Going Back
This was Collins’ 2010 album, which saw him cover various Motown hits. It passed us by at the time (we did play it, but never touched it since), and it’s easy to see why it lies unloved in a dusty Review Corner recess. Collins loves this music, and he roped in three surviving members of…
-
Foy Vance: The Wild Swan
Vance is signed to Ed Sheeran’s label, but drive all thoughts of teen-friendly bland pop from your heads, pop-pickers: Vance is really good, and indicates that Mr Sheeran has very good taste (and business sense, but we knew that). Vance plays laid-back bluesy folk that’s got a 60s West Coast vibe to it; a lot…
-
Evans The Death: Vanilla
Evans The Death should be what we like in an indie pop band — pleasing female vocals, slightly dark, fond of making a racket and a spirit of independence. But, we have to say, there’s just something about this that doesn’t quite float our boat. Evans The Death are a bit more Evans the Runny…
-
Judith Owen: Somebody’s Child
You can have a two-word review for this album: Laurel Canyon. If you want four, Laurel Canyon, Carole King. Owen is a Welsh singer-songwriter, and has been releasing music since 1996. She’s toured and recorded with Richard Thompson, and is married to Harry Shearer (Spinal Tap, and the likes of Mr Burns and Principal Skinner…
-
Beverley Knight: Soulsville
After her last album of British soul covers, Knight has turned to the US and the Memphis air has clearly done her good. We’re not big on her music in the Review Corner but the fact that we like this must mean it’s her best work in a while. She sounds like a performer half…
-
Phil Collins: …But Seriously
The latest in the series of reissues, this is the most Phil Collins of Phil Collins albums. Phil Collins central. If you don’t like Phil Collins, there’s nothing here for you. Turn round and walk away before anyone gets hurt. First play-through it came over a bit samey, then the memory cells kicked in. It…
-
Fantastic Negrito: The Last Days of Oakland
Xavier Dphrepaulezz (pronounced De-Frepple-Ez) is about the most interesting musician you could come across. Ignore that qualifier: the most interesting person, full stop. Dphrepaulezz was born in western Massachusetts, the eighth of 14 kids in a strict religious family. His Oxford-educated Somalian father ran a restaurant — his dad was born in 1905 so he…
-
Ciaran Lavery: Not Nearly Dark
Alongside King Harvest and the Weight (reviewed yesterday), we’ve spent a lot of time listening to this lovely new album. Ciaran Lavery is from the small village of Aghagallon, on the edge of Lough Neagh in County Armagh, and started playing and singing at the age of 15. Now based in the UK, his new…
-
Sturgill Simpson: A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
“Outlaw country” musician Simpson has delivered an interesting album that musically sounds like what the Blues Brothers set could have been, had they delivered a proper show at Bob’s Country Bunker (where they had both kinds of music, country and western). He sounds old school country — Waylon Jennings is the obvious comparison — but…
Review Corner 