(EMI) O.”
track, the deep soul grooves he's exploring are way more addictive than usual. We can only hope the film might be half a good.
crime Stuart Prince. of Les Rythmes Digitales fame. Madge‘s pockets are full of cute Moroder hooks and shimmery Reyksopp riffs.
l PSYCHEDELIC POP cast. While the thug life making it a skill to steal ALSO RELEAS KATE Bus" philosophy can get from the latest hippest ED Aenat wearing track after places. With partner in it": :1?
E... "D .00.
5 (Mark Robertson) This kind of thievery
' should be indulged -— it is what makes the pop world go rOund after all — but the real glitch here is that this could be anyone. The soft focus sheen buffed onto Confessions . . . renders Madonna a second—
ROCK
THE DARKNESS One Way Ticket to Hell . . . and Back
(Atlantic) 00
After a 12-year hiatus. many Kate Bush fans would have been
Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called
content to hear her sing an instruction manual for i
Aww shame! After the prime slice of mutton dressed as lamb that was ‘The Importance of
Being idie', 0,,“- newie tLet There Be Love' (Big i her washing machine. i class citizen on her own Pixies Brother) on only goes and teases us with the ' And in truth. Darts 0t reCOid- This is actually 8 Josh Frank and Caryn promise that they've returned to their most sublime this t6'tiaek GOUb'e CD decent, it by the Ganz (Virgin Books)
numbers. album of electro pop. all hewn from the same template. It's just not a great Madonna record. When the strongest, most vivid personality in
Tracing the Boston band's path from indie cult to influential megaliths. as told by the people who were there at the time. Franz Ferdinand
Beatles-(grave)robbing days of yore. A Gallagher ; album could be lUSt duet no less, it starts off all playground innocent t that- Battling tYiiCei
amidst tender and obligatory ‘Imagine‘ piano lines. eeeehtiiCitieS eeide
before fizzling amidst weary repetition of the title. (‘SIOOShY SiOShY waehihg Presumably Noel couldn't fit any more lyrics on the maChine'). the mUSiCa'iY back of his fag packet. but still, it's ‘Hey Jude' next beautiful Aeria/ may not
to the mutton dressed as mutton DtUCk at the heaitStiihQS
There‘s one major problem with the Darkness' second album: it's a parody of
sumphont“! tunetree 'Rewind' (V2) . like previous albums. the Darkness. And when pop in the last 20 years and the Pop
Ugh, Or the muttonchops dressed as Modfather ; But after several listens. I a band's SOURd lS SO lS reduced to muttering Renaissance
(just how elastic is this metaphor?) that Paul it will comfortably fill the ; resolutely built on rock like an out of breath PE Hamilton Harvey wens.- has become with Here's the Good News' Kate Bush-shaped hole cliches as set in stone instructor we know (Reynolds & Hear/t) A
there's trouble. (Mark Robertson)
slim but credible tome which catches up with a selection of the players in the Glasgow music scene and attempts to divine the reasons behind Franz Ferdinand's rise and broad appeal.
Steve Marriott: All
left in your music by Queen, Def Leppard. collection since 1993's Kiss et al it quickly The Red Shoes. becomes strangled by JAZZ
‘ (Kelly Apter) its own conventions. JOHN
Admittedly. half'is far COLTRANE VARIOUS better than you d one Down, one Up Music from and I imagine and some of (impulse!) ..... inspired By Get Rich the gwtar work is Scouse moppets showing up on Stars in their Eyes Or Die Tryin’ i exceptional. but the and announcing their intention to ‘be' Bad (inteiSCODe) 0”. Other halt drifts 0“ intO Manners, which makes it much funnier than desperate. forced
(V2) 00 .
So given that Babyshambles' ‘Albion' (Rough Trade) won't work in The Lisf's tiber high-tech CD player. Pete's getting a token and no doubt overoptimistic 00 on the basis that everything he does sounds precisely the same. At least ‘Ghostfaced Killer' (Deltasonic) 000 by 1119 Dead 608 conjures up hilarious images of the
FILM SOUNDTRACK
Goldie Lookln’ Chain peddling the same tired ‘wackiness'. Firing stoic Too Beautiful old shtick with ‘R'n'B' (Atlantic) 0 . a drab ; bassist Frankie Poullain Paolo Hewitt and pastiche not fit for human consumption. i has left them floundering John HeI/ier (He/ter
in a sea of paranoia. panpipes and unchecked self- aggrandising bombast. Over-produced, over-
Ske/ter) A revised and expanded edition of the excellent account of the florid and untidy life of the Small
Far more palatable is Future Pilot AKA's ‘Eyes of Love' (Creeping Bent) ooo . which sees Sushil K Dade team up with Stuart Murdoch and Sarah Martin of Belle and Sebastian for a single
that even dares to try and out-twee their regular ‘
Hard on the heels of the recently rediscovered recording of a Monk gig
band, It’s charming and lovely, but a stiff breeze dressed and under- with Coltrane at Carnegie Faces and Humble would blow it over. Much like Devendra Curtis '50 Cent' : performing. Yep. the Hall in 1957 (released on Pie frontman. Batman's 'Heard somebody Sey' (XL) 0.. _ 5 Jackson has — despite Darkness are definitely Blue Note) comes this Pete Doherty on not his finest moment, but a perfectly tender ballad i Kant/e. Maieha” Or baCk. tWO-CD set of a the Edge
Diddy's bleats — taken top spot on the hip hop
(Henry Northmore) previously unreleased
radio broadcast from the
Nathan Yates and Pete Samson (John
nonetheless — and Antony and the Johnsons' ‘You Are My Sister' (Rough Trade) 000 . which
i . . . time augments and reaffirms Antony’s serene ‘ pile. and thlS. the I Half Note Ill ll Blake) Sllbtllled ‘the manchiid persona with the presence of friend and 5 soundtrack to his i Confessions on 3 features the (IlélSSlC true story Ol a mentor Boy George. celluloid debut. a film Dancefloor quartet of the era. with troubled genius'. this
which in itself is a rehash of his mentor
MCCOy Tyner. Jimmy Garrison and Elvni Jones
is a partisan, rose- tinted tale of rampant
Anyway. as you can probably see. this issue's Singles column has fewer stars than a month of
(Maverick) 000
I'm a Celebrity. , ., meaning it's a two-horse race Eminem's hard luck tale Goldfrapp went on the alongside Coltrane. hedonism and
in a fortnight of relative mediocrity otherwise Just l 8 Mile. is a pleasant record a few weeks ago In the saxophonist's obsessive fandom. missing out on the top spot is Lady Sovereign. i surprise: it is actually criticising Madonna for style of the period. there DJ shadow’s whose ‘Hoodie' (Island) 0.. gubs GLC at their better than The no longer having any are only four tunes on Endtmducing
the entire set. each explored at considerable length. As well as the title track, ‘Afro Blue'. ‘SOng of Praise' and 'My Favourite Things' get the treatment. Prime Coltrane. and an excellent addition to the canon.
(Kenny Mathieson)
Massacre. 50 Cent’s most recent long player. Fiddy hasn't spread
himself quite so thinly this time round and the I mix of other G Unit grumps — Lloyd Banks. Tony Yayo. MOP, Mobb l Deep. Olivia — work hard ' as a brooding and demonic supporting
original ideas but
Eliot Wilder (33 7/3) Part of an excellent series which attempts to uncover the genius of a particular groundbreaking album. Follows volumes on OK Computer and Jeff Buckley's Grace.
ironic chav game on the basis of the line ‘my tracky’s big and baggy‘ alone, not to mention Basement Jaxx's ADD-paced tamperings. Single of the Fortnlght. however, has to be 'Bootprints' (679) me by Klng Creosoto — a dynamic waltz-come-shanty in the style of a Caledonian Brian Wilson. and boasting a magic Hot Chip remix elsewhere on the disc.
Oh. and the Babyshamblos CD is working now. u . as suspected. (David Pollock)
Loud ALLCDS WERE REVIEWED ON A SYSTEM SUPPLIED AND INSTALLED BY LOUD & CLEAR
J? ’/- 7’ “Wt/J"JlJ~’-l.l./-l4.’.0.l li’
$°Cleor
86 THE LIST 17 Nov—1 Dec 2005