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The Rolling Stones - Shine A Light
While there is clearly plenty of justification for a Martin Scorsese-directed documentary about The Rolling Stones, the soundtrack has to be another matter, surely. Shine A Light is not just a soundtrack album, it's a live album taken from shows at New York City's Beacon Theater on October 29 and November 1, 2006. And it's not just a live album by The Rolling Stones, it's the NINTH live album by The Rolling Stones and comes just four years after the last one, 2004's Live Licks. Indeed, they've released more live albums in the last decade than studio albums, which certainly reflects their status as living legends rather than vital recording artists. So does the track listing for this album, which includes zero songs from album A Bigger Bang, which had been released a year earlier, and instead focuses on the familiar hits and classic album tracks. Of course, some of that has to be because the show was being filmed for a documentary, and Scorsese would obviously have wanted to show the Stones playing songs that everyone knows rather than 'new stuff', but it does make you have to question how essential a purchase this album is, and just how many times you need to buy a live version of Brown Sugar or Start Me Up. Fortunately, what Shine A Light lacks in relevance, it more than makes up for in terms of quality. The Stones may be well past the sell-by-date of almost any other rock band, but on their day they can still be a thrilling live act and have a back catalogue that is almost unsurpassed, so it is no surprise to hear them in the fine form that they are for this album. The sound quality is much better than Live Licks, presumably because it was recorded at the relatively intimate Beacon Theater rather than the kind of enormodomes that they usually play at, which do rather have a habit of swallowing sound rather than celebrating it. The guest musicians also help, with Jack White and Buddy Guy amping up the blues factor on Loving Cup and Champagne & Reefer, while Christina Aguilera is awesome on Live With Me. No, seriously. Mick Jagger and Co sound like they are enjoying themselves - and to be honest it was probably enjoyable to be able to see the crowd when performing - and that translates to the music. The tracks are well chosen and provide a well-rounded overview of the best of the Stones, making for an album that might not be essential, but provides an excellent side-piece to the documentary and a very good addition to their burgeoning collection of live albums...
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Jim Noir - Jim Noir
Davyhulme's finest
export Jim Noir released his debut album
Tower Of Love in December 2005 and got some
attention the following summer when his
quirky Eanie Meany was used in an adidas
advert around the 2006 World Cup, while
My Patch also got into a Ginsters ad later
that year. However, he's still hardly a
household name and his 60s-influenced psychedelic
sunshine pop has only found a niche audience
so far, while it's probably fairly to say
that Tower Of Love was a patchy album that
had some great songs on it but didn't consistently
hit the heights. Happily, his self-titled
debut album demonstrates how far he has
come in two and a bit years, though first
single What You Gonna Do isn't the best
way of highlighting this. While it's a perfectly
serviceable retro tune, it's very slight
and could easily have come from his first
album, whereas most of the rest of this
new record is a step forward in terms of
songwriting and production. For a start,
a hazy fuzz has descended on Noir's music
here, which only serves to make it sound
even more like it was made in the 60s, but
perversely also seems to bring it bang up
to date and make Noir sound like a real
artist rather than just a guy with nice
tunes and an obsession with 1967. Tunes
like Alright, Happy Day Today and the beautiful
Ships And Clouds float around your brain
like a particularly pleasant dream and prove
that this local lad can be Brian Wilson
if he wants to be, just with a bowler hat
instead of a plastic fireman's helmet. Sure,
Jim Noir is no Smile or even Pet Sounds,
but when the summer months come around and
you want to listen to something on a lazy,
hazy evening, this is the album you'll be
reaching for.
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Daniel
Lanois - Here Is What Is
Daniel
Lanois is one of the most celebrated
music producers around and for
good reason. He produced (or
co-produced) U2's The Unforgettable
Fire, The Joshua Tree, Achtung
Baby, All That You Can't Leave
Behind and How to Dismantle
An Atomic Bomb, Bob Dylan's
Oh Mercy and Time Out Of Mind
and Emmylou Harris' Wrecking
Ball amongst others, and has
formed a notable partnership
with Brian Eno. Last year he
has was the subject of a documentary
called Here Is What Is, about
his career and the making of
this album, his ninth release
of his own music, so here is
Here Is What Is. As a performer,
Lanois has always been someone
who is admired by fellow musicians
more than adored by the public,
and this latest album isn't
going to change that, but any
lovers of the kind of music
he has produced (the Dylan and
Emmylou Harris albums in particular)
will find plenty to enjoy here.
It certainly starts very well
with a cover of Emmylou's Where
Will I Be, though cover might
not be the best word to describe
a song that he wrote and produced
in the first place. His voice
isn't the greatest and lacks
the fragile beauty of the song's
original singer of course, but
like Dylan his voice has got
character, and that shines through
on this album. And even when
it doesn't, or he doesn't sing
at all - like on the lovely
Blue Bus - the music and the
production are stunning. It's
all very low-key, and there
are moments which are a bit
'soundtracky' as you'd expect
from what is effectively a film
soundtrack, but such is Lanois'
talent as a writer and producer
that there's very little wasted
on Here Is What Is. Another
excellent release from one of
the key figures in music in
the last 25 years...
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Camille - Music Hole
Camille certainly doesn't make music that is easy on the ears. The romantically-titled Music Hole is an album that will irritate as much as it inspires and even people who enjoy it will sometimes want to chuck it out of the window, which could be costly if listening on an mp3 player. The Parisien chanteuse first came to prominence singing on Nouvelle Vague's debut album, which sounds like Steps when compared to the solo work she has done since then. Her second album Le Fil was based around a drone that persisted throughout the entire course of the music, and was 'an exploration of the voice'. It was critically-adored of course, but wasn't always listenable, with some of the more avant-garde moments likely to send listeners fleeing. But it was S Club 7 in comparison to Music Hole, which sees her ditch the drone and any real musical instruments for an album made almost entirely by her, well, 'music hole'. And before you get really worried, that's her mouth. Much like Bjork's Medulla, it's an a capella album where almost everything that you hear is the sound of her voice, which can be a very claustrophobic listening experience. It can be genius when it works, as Medulla proved, but Camille isn't quite so captivating an artist as Bjork, so Music Hole is less successful. But with some songs in English, this is also curiously more accessible at times than Le Fil for non-French audiences, and there is no doubting the quality of some the songs, most notably the excellent Home Is Where It Hurts. If you give it a chance, you may fall in love, but equally you must just hear it as a big empty hole.
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Millencolin - Machine 15
Sweden's premier punks Millencolin have been going since 1992, which must make them elder statesmen of the scene, having built up their reputation around the time that Green Day, The Offspring and Rancid were first introducing their brand of So-Cal punk onto the world scene. Millencolin have always stayed true to that era rather than flitting through the trends that have followed since, and while you can never be entirely sure whether that is a limitation or a sign that they are more than bandwagon-jumpers, it has at least given them a back catalogue that is solid and consistent. And there is clearly more to them than just 'that Swedish band who got signed to Epitaph', as demonstrated by frontman Nikola Sarcevic's two solo albums, which ditched the punk guitars and attitude for a more emotionally-open approach to the lyrics and music. Kingswood, the Millecolin album released in between those showed no real sign of any of that creeping into his day job though, so is that still the case with eighth album Machine 15? Well, no, because there is a definitely softening of their sound here. The guitars and hooks are still here, but tracks like Vicious Circle and the very good Brand New Game are the sound of a band growing up with their lead singer and there's not much in the way of 'angry' on here. However, while Millencolin might have mellowed slightly, there's still plenty of great songs on here for their long-term fans to enjoy and even though it isn't a classic by any means, Machine 15 is another very solid release by an always-enjoyable band.
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My
Federation
- Don't Wanna
Die
The
return of
James in the
last few years,
culminating
in their new
album Hey
Ma has obviously
been a good
thing. It's
also been
good news
for a man
called Lee
"Muddy" Baker,
who had been
working with
Tim Booth
on his solo
career, producing
his album
Bone. But
why is it
good that
this particular
avenue has
been closed
off to him
by the reformation
of James?
Well, for
a start, he's
produced Hey
Ma, which
is certainly
his most high
profile work
so far, but
the end (for
now at least)
of Booth's
solo career
has led to
Baker forming
his own band,
My Federation.
And they're
pretty darned
good too.
That's obvious
from the squelching
synths and
gorgeous harmonies
at the start
of the awesome
title track,
firmly setting
them in the
same ballpark
as Super Furry
Animals and
The Flaming
Lips. It's
one of the
best opening
songs to an
album we've
heard all
year and is
a very confident
start for
a new band,
and that confidence
continues
throughout
Don't Wanna
Die, even
if the influences
stretch across
genres to
incorporate
The Who, Daft
Punk and even
Stevie Wonder.
At times,
these influences
do overwhelm
things a little
and My Federation
threaten to
lose their
own identity
as you start
to wonder
what kind
of music they
actually make.
Is it the
synth-pop
of the title
track or the
stomping rock
of Nothing
To Say? Mostly
here it's
a combination
of the two
and it makes
for an album
that is never
less than
entertaining
and a new
band who are
definitely
worth listening
out for. Fortunately
for them,
a support
slot on the
James tour
should help
win them plenty
of new admirers...
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