l-lsewhere there are odd arrangements. edgy, leftfield art rock. sinister lounge tunes and much more besides, all delivered wrth inirrritable. idiosyncratic style. By ()hrist. though, if there's one thing Deus are kings at. it's Writing killer guitar riffs that are so weird they shouldn I work, but they spectacularly do. and this album is positively teaming with therrr. Its great to have them back. (Uoug Johnstone)
JAZZ
TOMMY SMITH GROUP Forbidden Fruit (Spartacus) 00000
lhe saxophonist is on top fOrm with this powerful new group. and there is even better news fer the first time since he was a teenager in the rriid 80s the band
on this recording is all Scottish. Pianist Steve Hamilton. bassist Aidan O Donnell and drummer Alyn Cosker rise to the challenge of Smith's exciting music, a loosely linked and notably varied series of compositions based on the story of lve and the Serpent and its concomitant theme of good v evil.
Smith has succeeded in capturing much of the power and intensity of their live performance in the studio. which is no mean feat in itself. (kenny Mathieson)
DRIBHLING DRIVl l IAN BROW The Greatest
(l rctrorr) 0
Never in the history of recorded music has an album been less accurately titled. lhis is the 'best' of rnonkeyman's solo output. and let's put it this way. if these songs were recorded by an
unknown pt-El'lOllllGl’ they
wouldri I make it past the demo pile of any
record label in the world.
lhey are tenth rate.
insipid and utterly banal imitations of the Stone Roses by a singer who has lost any edge he might've once had. The least atrocious song here. ‘l FAR'. is still orin as good as something a mediocre pub band could bash out on their break between covers sets. (Doug Johnstone)
JAZZ. GREG OSBY
Channel Three (Blue Note) .000
Greg Osby takes on the challenge of one of the most exposed of all
classic ja7z formats. the saxophone trio. and pulls it off in his usual impressive fashion. He opens and closes the disc with covers of tunes by two iconic figures in his pantheon. Ornette Coleman's “Mob Job‘ and Eric Dolphy's ‘Miss Ann‘. but the rest of the compositions are his own. The spacious textures opened up by leaving out the harmonic thickening of piano or guitar reveal a less spiky sonority on both alto and SOprano than in some of his other projects. and bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Jeff ‘Tain' Watts enter fully into the resulting musical dialogue.
(Kenny Mathieson)
POP KING CREOSOTE KC Rules OK
(679) C...
Now. this may make me sound like a total heretic in certain circles but there are moments in Kenny Anderson '8 whale-sized back catalogue that make for uneasy listening. Not
bad. you understand, just a raw. difficult experience. This collaboration with the Earlies encases his songs in a warm honeyed glow. giving us a lilting, elephantine heartbreaker of a record. It‘s not so much about the quality of the songs here — he's as consistent a songwriter as you‘ll find in this land — but mostly the reaping the rewards of indulging in a bout of high fidelity. This is the first album in over a decade he's recorded in an actual studio -- and his songs get a widescreen sheen.
3mg.“
In one month we‘ve had two of the albums of the year — this and Kanye West's new 'un. If things continue this way. it's going to be a very good autumn.
(Mark Robertson)
ALSO RELEASED
Mylo Destroy
Rock ’n 'Ro/l (Sony)
‘ Mylo's debut is repackaged and reissued with the summer's big smash “Doctor Pressure' on board.
‘ Guru Version 7: The s Street Scriptures (Seven Grand) The rapping half of Gangstarr rolls out a star-laden solo long player.
Dreadzone Once
( Upon a Time (Functional) The veteran dub electronicists return with their first album since 2001‘s Sound. Erin McKeown We Will Become Like Birds (Nettwerk) Oddly beautiful songs from this mildly unhinged alt.country lyricist. Jackie Leven Elegy for Johnny Cash (Cooking Vinyl) Self-explanatory tribute to the man in black by Scottish Houbadour
E130
! ’ M
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THE NEW ALBUM
OUT 0H 12“! SEPTEMBER “it's majesty reigns supreme” o «n
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68 THE LIST t: .
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