Carla Bruni - No Promises

It seems to be the law that nobody can start a review of Carla Bruni's new album without first expressing amazement that such quality music could come from someone with her background. So, we'll join in that chorus. Bruni is a French-Italian former supermodel and heiress to a fortune, who has been arm-candy for the likes of Mick Jagger, Kevin Costner and Donald Trump in her time. She quit the catwalk nine years ago and in 2002 released her debut album Quelqu'un M'a Dit, which amazed pretty much everyone by actually being really, really good. In terms of model-music it was certainly more Milla Jovovich than Paris Hilton (is she a model? Frankly, who cares?), full of subtle nuances and her softly-sultry and soulful vocals. Now she's back with her new album No Promises, and the obvious thing to note early on is that she's now singing in English, so has she sold out in a bid for world domination? Hardly, when you consider that all of the lyrics come from poems by the likes of Auden, Dickinson, Yeats, Dorothy Parker and Walter de la Mare. Not exactly 'something kinda ooh, jumping on my tutu' is it? Of course, it takes more than just fancy poetic lyrics to make a good album, and it's the music that makes No Promises so impressive, because Bruni (who wrote it all herself) has wrapped some exquisitely delightful and again subtle melodies around the words. At times, the mixture brings Leonard Cohen to mind, not least because her vocals are as understated and unshowy as the great Canadian master, and the pace of the music is similarly languid and thoughtful. Before The World Was Made could easily have been written by Cohen or Tom Waits (on a calm day) and that's high praise indeed for someone most famous for wearing clothes (or not wearing them). Her continental accent could be a distraction, but with Marianne Faithfull having coached her for the phrasings, Bruni's performance of the poetry is mostly excellent, while she has certainly benefitted from the teaching when it comes to her singing in general. Of course, poetry nuts might complain about the way these classics have been used, and maybe claim that Bruni has misinterpreted some of them, but the fact is that she has also opened them up to a whole new audience who might not have discovered them otherwise. That she has done so in the process of making one of the albums of the year is all the more impressive. You really can't judge a book by its cover and the fact that No Promises has a former model without any trousers on as its front cover certainly shouldn't make you take it any less seriously.

The Crimea - Secrets Of The Witching Hour

You don't get anything for free, they always say. That's usually true, even for those of us lucky enough to get albums sent to us with no money changing hands, because we still have to work for them by doing reviews. However, The Crimea are out to change that, and have released their second album for download entirely free. You can get some music for free (legally, we're talking about here) on the net on excellent sites like emusic.com, but they are usually only either label samplers or really really bad albums that you would never consider paying for anyway. That's what is different about Secrets Of The Witching Hour, because while The Crimea are a criminally underrated band who haven't ever had the kind of sales that they deserve, they are still the kind of band who have a very loyal fanbase who would happily rush out to buy this as soon as it came out. They just don't have enough to inspire the same kind of loyalty from record labels, which is why they've decided to release their album by themselves for free, rather than go through the usual channels. Everyone loves getting something for nothing, so the hope is that enough people will check it out and like it to mean that the band can easily make their money back when they go on tour and have a whole new load of fans coming to gigs, buying t-shirts etc. The good news in that respect is that Secrets Of The Witching Hour is another great album from Davey MacManus, though having already released two of them with The Crocketts and another with The Crimea, whether the quality of the music will be enough to guarantee success is another matter. MacManus is simply one of the best songwriters the British music scene has seen (and then ignored) in the last few decades, with the first Crocketts album We May Be Skinny And Wirey a masterpiece of thoughtful indie-rock. The first Crimea album was slightly hit and miss, though the highlights were fantastic, but thankfully Secrets is probably MacManus' most consistent record since Skinny And Wirey. The fairly slow pace of it along with the lovely melodies and pristine guitar-playing as well as his typically quirky lyrics. One possible problem is that there doesn't seem to be an obvious stand-out track to hook sceptics in, though both Light Brigade and Bombay Sapphire Coma are excellent. Whether it's an interesting commercial experiment or the last desperate act of a another band who never got the breaks they deserved, Secrets Of The Witching Hour is an excellent album, so why not check out our for yourselves? Download it for free here: http://www.thecrimea.net/download/tabid/62/Default.aspx

Sia - Lady Croissant

Here at entertainment manchester, we (or at least I) have made no bones about the fact that we think Sia is ace and that Breathe Me is one of the greatest songs of all time. In case you've missed it all and don't know who she is, let us explain. Sia Furler is a solo artist who is best known here for her vocal work with Zero 7 on many of their biggest hits. She became a star of her own accord when Breathe Me was used in the stunning and heart-breaking finale to Six Feet Under, and it's subsequently been stolen by lesser TV shows like Coronation Street to try and add some gravitas to their more mundane emotional scenes and promotional trailers. Lady Croissant isn't exactly a follow-up to her Colour The Small One album, as there's only one new track and then a bunch of live songs from a gig in New York last April, adding up to just nine tracks overall. So it's not an EP, or a full album, or a live album, which probably makes it a mini-album. Whatever it is, it's very good and a worthwhile introduction to Sia's music. The new studio song, Pictures is very good and hopefully signals that there might be a proper new album coming along soon enough. The live songs are a mixture of her Zero 7 tracks like Destiny and Blow It All Away, along with album tracks like Numb and the sublime Breathe Me (which is the obvious highlight here in its spine-tingling live version). Her voice is slightly odd at times here, not quite as controlled as in the studio, but it's still got character and Lady Croissant is a great taster for her talents as well as well worth the price for long-term fans.

Rush - Snakes And Arrows

Rush are one of those bands who only seem to be liked by rather hairy old man with bald patches and faded black t-shirts, but does that mean that they are an anachronism in the modern music world? Certainly not, because they're on a great run of form at the moment after losing their way a couple of times in the 80s and 90s, and this, their 18th studio album is also one of their best. Given sparkling production from Nick Raskulinecz that adds bite to all of the jangling and pounding guitars as well as a slick sheen to Geddy Lee's vocals, which have rarely sounded better. Lead songwriter and lyricist Neil Peart is also on top form, with the album's title influenced by an ages-old Buddhist version of Snakes And Ladders, all about karma, and this album is pretty much all about religion and war, clearly inspired by the Iraq war. Lead single Far Cry is a stunning start to the album, and despite including a couple of instrumentals along the way, the pace and quality never really lets up. It's a long time since Spirit Of Radio, the song for which they are still best known, but Rush have shown yet again that they are just as relevant and impressive now as they ever were.