WHAT is
encouraging about 24 Hours is the fact that Jones has
effectively gone back to the start of his career for
inspiration. There is no Rick Rubin on show here, no stylistic
reinventions, just plain old pop soul. Jones interprets the
romantic escapism of We Got Love with a softer, lighter
and consequently more youthful-sounding vocal and also plays it
nice and easy with the northern soul groove of Feels Like
Music, but is back with the enraged bawl on Give A Little
Love, played out like a battle between his larynx and the
perky horns. Jones is certainly not contented to hang-up his
party shoes just yet. In Style And Rhythm and Sugar
Daddy (co-written with Bono and The Edge), both strut their
stuff to notable effect. The Road was written in tribute
and apology to his wife Linda, with Jones confessing his
weaknesses and sins while declaring his love in a voice that
aches with sincerity: "I know I caused you pain / Left
you shattered on the ground / but what matters is here and now."
If He Should Ever Leave You and We Got Love
joyously return to the swingy, oversised Romeo playbook of
earlier hits, while Give A Little Love and Never brings
the baritone into the 21st century. The album’s big moment
appears towards the end with a storming, six and a half minute
cover version of Bruce Springsteen’s The Hitter, an
emotional and well-annunciated take on one of the Boss’ best
modern hits. There is plenty here to keep avid Tom Jones fans
more than satisfied and just enough for those used to his recent
output to enjoy as well.
Best track: Style
And Rhythm
Worst track:
Seen That Face
Rating:
***
The Fireman —
Electric Arguments (AT)
Electric arguments
marks the third outing from Sir Paul McCartney’s duo project
with Killing Joke-Orb producer Youth, which had mostly been an
instrumental electronic exercise, developing full-fledged songs
built around McCartney’s ever magical vocals. The two Fireman
albums McCartney released in 1993 and 1998 were
repetition-powered instrumental outings: the first close to
dance music, the second more meditative. But Electric Arguments
is a song collection, from skewed blues-rock (Nothing Too
Much Just Out of Sight) to East-West blends (Lifelong
Passion) to gospel filler (Light From Your Lighthouse)
to one-man studio jams (Is This Love?). The opening Nothing
Too Much Just Out Of Sight is a blast, harking back to the
early Beatles albums with its screaming vocals and blues-rock
tub-thumping. And is McCartney finally opening up about Heather
Mills when he declaims, "The last thing you did was try
to betray me"? The link to the 1990s Fireman is Universal
Here, Everlasting Now, which has a synthesiser pulse amid
its sliding, echoing guitars. The album marks the beat-making
duo’s first release since Rushes in 1998, and promises
to be a much more rockier affair. Scattered amid the first half
of the album are several further jewels, notably simple and
sweet Two Magpies and the waltz-like Travelling Light.
McCartney was always a genius at whimsy, and the electro oddity
that is Light From Your Lighthouse duly takes its place
alongside Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey in the Macca kingdom. Sun
Is Shining stacks up vocal harmonies like a lightheaded
version of the Beach Boys. Lifelong Passion (Sail Away) is
full of psychedelic moments and looped bass lines but is given
substance by spot-on vocals. The closing Don’t Stop Running
is the lengthiest track on the album but never outstays its
welcome, with McCartney proving he can still keep up with all
the young new boys on the block.
Best track: Universal
Here, Everlasting Now
Worst track: Lovers
In A Dream
Rating ***
Anastacia —
Heavy Rotation (Universal)
Four albums into a
career that already includes 225 gold, platinum and
multi-platinum discs, Anastacia remains huge in Europe and Asia
but lesser-known back home in the States. The new creation of
the singer, Heavy Rotation features more upbeat and winding
rhythms than its predecessors. It’s a state of affairs she is
undoubtedly seeking to remedy with a set of songs steeped in
contemporary R&B, and with a stellar line-up of pop
producers at the helm. The gigantic producers include Ne-Yo,
Rodney Jerkins and Robbie Williams’s old partner Guy Chambers,
and the concept is simple enough: to make Anastacia relevant to
the generation brought up on Amy Winehouse and Pussycat Dolls
rather than Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. The low-key disco
of lead single I Can Feel You is a clear indication of
Anastacia’s intentions here. On Heavy Rotation, she’s
reflecting on the churning gravitas of the human condition,
explaining the album title as a reference to how "life can
be heavy, but it all turns around and goes into something
else". Nevertheless, there are enough tracks that remind us
of the old good hits by Anastacia. The pop track The Way I
See It sparkles with the upbeat catchy motif decorated with
the funky elements. Her asbestos larynx is in full effect
throughout the album, rasping through R&B tracks All Fall
Down and I Call It Love, and recalling vocal icons
such as Patti Labelle on the playfully Motown-like Absolutely
Positively. Of course, no Anastacia album would be complete
without a big power ballad, and the piano-led Never Gonna
Love Again certainly doesn’t disappoint.
Best track:
I Can Feel You
Worst track: Beautiful
Messed Up World
Rating **
Album
of the month
Guns N’
Roses — Chinese Democracy (Interscope)
After 17
years, Guns N’ Roses’ most anticipated sixth studio
album, Chinese Democracy, has finally seen the light of
the day. Given the departure of nearly all of GN’R’s
original personnel and the inclusion of new members such
as Finck, Tommy Stinson (The Replacements), and
experimental guitarist Buckethead, Chinese Democracy doesn’t
stray too far from the cinematic hard rock that the band
branded in the late 1980s. The album, just like its
two-decade-old predecessors (Use Your Illusion 1 &2),
features stately, major-chord guitar operettas that
utilise hovering orchestral and keyboard arrangements,
blistering rockers, piano ballads, and elements of soul
and R&B. Perhaps the band’s most recognisable
instrument, Axl’s voice is also on full display. The
music toggles between two primary modes: grinding
industrial rock and keys-and-strings balladry. Yet to that
blueprint Axl Rose and his group of musicians append every
trick money can buy: gigantic production, hip-hop beats,
mid-eastern riffs, space-cowboy atmospherics, and, of
course, Rose’s still-astounding vocals. The album excels
when Rose allows his team to push beyond GNR conventions,
such as the flamenco finesse and silky funk flavour of If
the World and the slow-moving majesty of the
album-defining centerpiece Madagascar, in which
Rose wails convincingly: "I won’t be told
anymore/ That I’ve been brought down in this storm/ And
left so far out from the shore/ That I can’t find my way
back."
Beginning
with a simple piano motif, reminiscent of Motley Crue’s
epic Home Sweet Home, Street Of Dreams is
buoyed by Rose’s singularly most impressive vocal
performance and Tommy Stinson’s understated bass line.
Chinese Democracy has put some thrill back into the rock
music world.
WHAT is
encouraging about 24 Hours is the fact that Jones has
effectively gone back to the start of his career for
inspiration. There is no Rick Rubin on show here, no stylistic
reinventions, just plain old pop soul. Jones interprets the
romantic escapism of We Got Love with a softer, lighter
and consequently more youthful-sounding vocal and also plays it
nice and easy with the northern soul groove of Feels Like
Music, but is back with the enraged bawl on Give A Little
Love, played out like a battle between his larynx and the
perky horns. Jones is certainly not contented to hang-up his
party shoes just yet. In Style And Rhythm and Sugar
Daddy (co-written with Bono and The Edge), both strut their
stuff to notable effect. The Road was written in tribute
and apology to his wife Linda, with Jones confessing his
weaknesses and sins while declaring his love in a voice that
aches with sincerity: "I know I caused you pain / Left
you shattered on the ground / but what matters is here and now."
If He Should Ever Leave You and We Got Love
joyously return to the swingy, oversised Romeo playbook of
earlier hits, while Give A Little Love and Never brings
the baritone into the 21st century. The album’s big moment
appears towards the end with a storming, six and a half minute
cover version of Bruce Springsteen’s The Hitter, an
emotional and well-annunciated take on one of the Boss’ best
modern hits. There is plenty here to keep avid Tom Jones fans
more than satisfied and just enough for those used to his recent
output to enjoy as well.
Electric arguments
marks the third outing from Sir Paul McCartney’s duo project
with Killing Joke-Orb producer Youth, which had mostly been an
instrumental electronic exercise, developing full-fledged songs
built around McCartney’s ever magical vocals. The two Fireman
albums McCartney released in 1993 and 1998 were
repetition-powered instrumental outings: the first close to
dance music, the second more meditative. But Electric Arguments
is a song collection, from skewed blues-rock (Nothing Too
Much Just Out of Sight) to East-West blends (Lifelong
Passion) to gospel filler (Light From Your Lighthouse)
to one-man studio jams (Is This Love?). The opening Nothing
Too Much Just Out Of Sight is a blast, harking back to the
early Beatles albums with its screaming vocals and blues-rock
tub-thumping. And is McCartney finally opening up about Heather
Mills when he declaims, "The last thing you did was try
to betray me"? The link to the 1990s Fireman is Universal
Here, Everlasting Now, which has a synthesiser pulse amid
its sliding, echoing guitars. The album marks the beat-making
duo’s first release since Rushes in 1998, and promises
to be a much more rockier affair. Scattered amid the first half
of the album are several further jewels, notably simple and
sweet Two Magpies and the waltz-like Travelling Light.
McCartney was always a genius at whimsy, and the electro oddity
that is Light From Your Lighthouse duly takes its place
alongside Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey in the Macca kingdom. Sun
Is Shining stacks up vocal harmonies like a lightheaded
version of the Beach Boys. Lifelong Passion (Sail Away) is
full of psychedelic moments and looped bass lines but is given
substance by spot-on vocals. The closing Don’t Stop Running
is the lengthiest track on the album but never outstays its
welcome, with McCartney proving he can still keep up with all
the young new boys on the block.
Four albums into a
career that already includes 225 gold, platinum and
multi-platinum discs, Anastacia remains huge in Europe and Asia
but lesser-known back home in the States. The new creation of
the singer, Heavy Rotation features more upbeat and winding
rhythms than its predecessors. It’s a state of affairs she is
undoubtedly seeking to remedy with a set of songs steeped in
contemporary R&B, and with a stellar line-up of pop
producers at the helm. The gigantic producers include Ne-Yo,
Rodney Jerkins and Robbie Williams’s old partner Guy Chambers,
and the concept is simple enough: to make Anastacia relevant to
the generation brought up on Amy Winehouse and Pussycat Dolls
rather than Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. The low-key disco
of lead single I Can Feel You is a clear indication of
Anastacia’s intentions here. On Heavy Rotation, she’s
reflecting on the churning gravitas of the human condition,
explaining the album title as a reference to how "life can
be heavy, but it all turns around and goes into something
else". Nevertheless, there are enough tracks that remind us
of the old good hits by Anastacia. The pop track The Way I
See It sparkles with the upbeat catchy motif decorated with
the funky elements. Her asbestos larynx is in full effect
throughout the album, rasping through R&B tracks All Fall
Down and I Call It Love, and recalling vocal icons
such as Patti Labelle on the playfully Motown-like Absolutely
Positively. Of course, no Anastacia album would be complete
without a big power ballad, and the piano-led Never Gonna
Love Again certainly doesn’t disappoint.
After 17
years, Guns N’ Roses’ most anticipated sixth studio
album, Chinese Democracy, has finally seen the light of
the day. Given the departure of nearly all of GN’R’s
original personnel and the inclusion of new members such
as Finck, Tommy Stinson (The Replacements), and
experimental guitarist Buckethead, Chinese Democracy doesn’t
stray too far from the cinematic hard rock that the band
branded in the late 1980s. The album, just like its
two-decade-old predecessors (Use Your Illusion 1 &2),
features stately, major-chord guitar operettas that
utilise hovering orchestral and keyboard arrangements,
blistering rockers, piano ballads, and elements of soul
and R&B. Perhaps the band’s most recognisable
instrument, Axl’s voice is also on full display. The
music toggles between two primary modes: grinding
industrial rock and keys-and-strings balladry. Yet to that
blueprint Axl Rose and his group of musicians append every
trick money can buy: gigantic production, hip-hop beats,
mid-eastern riffs, space-cowboy atmospherics, and, of
course, Rose’s still-astounding vocals. The album excels
when Rose allows his team to push beyond GNR conventions,
such as the flamenco finesse and silky funk flavour of If
the World and the slow-moving majesty of the
album-defining centerpiece Madagascar, in which
Rose wails convincingly: "I won’t be told
anymore/ That I’ve been brought down in this storm/ And
left so far out from the shore/ That I can’t find my way
back."