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Middleton over what direction this. Arab Str‘ap's sixth album together. should go. Moffat won. so we get bile. urine. sweat. phlegm and. of course. spunk. distilled into a fantastic. concise :35 minutes. They are still as angry and brittle as ever but the plaintive strurns are laced wrth a kind of frantic. desperate energy we've only seen glimpses of before. Rather than trading on atmosphere. The Last Romance gets to the point and climaxes messin but wonderfully. They still might not make music to shag to but there's st:ll no one like them and no one to touch them.
(Mark Robertsoni
ROCK THE PADDINGTONS
First Comes First (Poptonesi O.
“catamarans
Jumping off a roof was apr.)arently the order of the day for members of the Paddingtons after a hard day working on their studio tan for their debut. A little drastic maybe when the finished product is as undeniably tight and energetic as this. but it w; s perhaps the inescapably derivative aura of the whole album that pushed Joey. Dee Dee. Johnny and Tommy. or whatever it is they call themselves. to do it. But plagiarism is an unpunishable crime in the music world if done wrtl‘. flair: the acid test Will be if they can take this beyond its spiritual home of
CBGBs. (Emma Newlandsl
ACID JAZX LIVESCIENCES
Bohemian Raps (LVSl .0.
What's in a name? Edinl)urgh—based hip hop~sou|—ia// outfit Livesciences have been an industrious presence on the live scene for some time. locally and beyond. Last summer. in a disused church they put their material down and the result. Bohemian Raps. captures much of the
energy. musicianship and camaraderie that makes up their live performance.
The band's loose. i_)sychedelic take on contemporary acid ia// sways and shuffles through 14 tracks that exhibit a maturity of talent and ztrrzirigi(}rit(2rit, ztrirl indeed there is almost too much of both as everyone gets in on almost every busy groove. Nevertheless. Bohemian Raps is a fine debut: Livesciences have arrived.
(Mark Edmundsonl
l’Ol’
GEMMA HAYES The Roads Don’t Love You
(Virgin) .0.
Given the fact that the world has lately gone daft for singer— songwriters of the lone persuasion and she has a Mercury nomination to her credit (for 2002's Night on My Side). it's hard to see how
ALL CDS WERE REVIEWED ON A
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Gemma Hayes is going to fail.
Of course. just because anyone who ever picked up an acoustic guitar is rammed down our throat as ‘authentic' and 'romantic' doesn't make them anything special in the grand scheme of things. But Hayes. while not breaking down any barriers. is certainly a Cut above. with an expressive voice that easily handles plaintive and sad ('Easy on the Eye'). and hopefully redemptive (‘Nothing Can'i. When even James Blunts staunchest supporters get sick of that song. this” be their next stop. (Davrd Pollocki
b‘AL EARIC (Illlt l VARIOUS
Jose Padilla: Cafe Solo
(Resist Music) 000
It's something of a tale of two discs in the godfather of chill's exposition of Balearics past and present. Part one displays a rich. atmospheric sound. deeper and more emotive than the carefree. sun—blissed melodies of Padilla's Cafe r/e/ Mar releases. The outcome is a broody. eclectic and wholly worthwhile mix. Things go a little awry on CD two. Where the contemporary efforts are lush. timeless mini masterpieces. the classics (care of Jean Michel Jarre. Ya//. Mandy Smithl display little or none of that sophistication. Perhaps it is still too soon to be putting out '(Zlassic Balearic" selections. at least alongside today's finest. (Mark l dmundsonl
PUNK
GANG OF FOUR Return the Gift
(VQl 0.
Gang of l our are currently straddling
GANG or Four:
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indiedom like some post punk godhead. such is their all pervading influence. So now they've reformed. baggy and a bit loose at the seams but in their original line-up. This double pack is 14 originals re recorded (no. we can't see why they did either) plus a further 1? remixes by the great and almost good YeahYeah Yeahs. Dandy Warhols. the Others and. of course. producer du Jour Paul l pworth. A few remixes try to reshape the harsh brittle funk of the band's sound but most seem too in awe to dare. Makes you want to go find those original album that inspired all these bands in the first place. (Mark Robertsoni
l ()l K
VASHTI BUNYAN Lookaflenng (Fat Cat Recordsi 0...
Thirty five years on from her only previous album. cult classic Jirs Another Diamond Dav. Vashti Bunyan returns With a typically delicate offering. Produced by fellow Edinburgh resident Max Richter. Lookattenng is a sumptuous mix of warm strings. gently plucked acoustic guitars. oboes. harps. recorders. flutes. pianos and glasses. featuring contributions from such revered acts as Joanna Newsorn. Devendra Banhart. Adem and various members of
Mice Parade and Espers. However. it's Bunyan's voice that makes this record a must. boasting a breathy. othervirorldly quality that haunts each wonderfully warm track -- a welcome return from this legendary. fragile folkie. (Camilla Pial
JA// GLASGOW IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA Which Way Did He (30?
(FMR) 0...
If you don't get free improvisation as a form then this probably isn't the disc to convert you. but for anyone comfortable with the music's abstracted free form aesthetic and lack of conventional formal reference points should check out this second recording from the (‘ilasgow lmprovisers Orchestra. It draws on their collaboration with the great improvising vocalist Maggie Nichols at the ()CA last year. lypically. Nichols chose to operate very much as part of the collective texture rather than as star soloist. weaving her vocal inii)iovisations into the multifaceted soundscape coniured up by the Qt) strong line up in inventive and typically iincomi)romising fashion.
(Kenny Mathiesonl
Ul’l H()Nl ll()USt VARIOUS Danny Rampling: Break For Love (Defectedi .0...
this is the last Rampling compilation album and. much like the others. it's pretty much a faultless Journey through house and disco since 108/ (when Rampling got involved and. unsurpi‘isingly. when
the scene fulminated). The man himself confesses that he had a tear in his eye when putting these tracks together. as he has now hung up his headphorms and is concentrating on being a restaurateur,
Tracks as wonderful as MFSB's lovers the Message' and D Train's ‘Walk on By' (among a great many othersl Will do that to even the most hardy dance music enthusiast. A fitting send off for one of music's great pioneers. (Johnny Regan)
ALSO RELEASED
New Order Sing/es (London) For the first time (well. since Substance anyway) the band's immense singles back catalogue is gathered on two CDs.
Burt Bacharach At This Time (Sony) Collaborations with Elvrs Costello. Rufus Wainwright and even Dr Dre. still can't push the majority of this beyond Cl’thkC‘tT-llT-a' basketsout Various John Peel: A Tribute (Wsm) From Bowie and Beefheart to Pulp and PJ Harvey. a tWin CD homage to the more accessible facets of Peel '3 record collection.
TaTU Dangerous and Movrng t/nterscoper One comeback single does not an album make and the Russian strumpets are struggling with this second long player.
The Prodigy Their Law -— The Singles
I 990—2005 (XL) Moments of genius are Sprinkled through this retrospective from the rave age to today.
TEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD 8: CLEAR
66 THE LIST 20 ()ct It Nov 7005)