Bruce Springsteen, The Ties That Bind; The River Collection
Artist: Bruce Springsteen Album: The Ties That Bind; The River Collection Label: Sony CD/DVD set Verdict: Look at the new Boss, same as the old Boss.
After the bellicose Born to Run in 1975 and the more introspective Darkness on the Edge of Town three years later, Bruce Springsteen went into the studio to re-think. The result would be the double album The River, released in late 1980 and led off by the single Hungry Heart, a deliberate attempt to get a radio hit and stadium crowds dancing.
The sessions had a live feel (Sherry Darling sounds recorded at a party with whoops, shouts and background chatter) but there were also serious songs like Independence Day and The River's title track.
However an uncertain Springsteen initially presented a 10-track album to his record company entitled The Ties That Bind, which included different versions of what would become River songs (Stolen Car, The Price You Pay among them) and a more edgy version of You Can Look But You Better Not Touch.
He quickly withdrew Ties and went back to record more songs and as the band became more comfortable in the studio the live energy and songs spilled out.
The River found Springsteen returning to the radio hits that shaped him and his songs had echoes of his teenage favourites like Phil Spector, Ben E. King, the Searchers' guitar-jangle and Gary "US" Bonds.
This beautifully presented box set - with a DVD doco, two DVDs of concerts, and an excellent hardcover book of 200 photos and clippings - has The River and Ties albums remastered across three CDs, then another disc of out-takes and unreleased songs, among them the exceptionally taut Night Fire, on which Springsteen has rarely sounded wound so tight.
Another gem is the intense Stray Bullet, where the tragedy of Point Blank on The River meets a disconcerting Van Morrison-like pastoralism.
There are others you wonder why they weren't heard at the time: the pop drama of Whitetown, the exciting Party Lights, the white-knuckle anger of Roulette (about the Three Mile Island meltdown) and the acoustic strum of Mr Outside, where Bruce might be channelling Sam Cooke.
Many unreleased songs are enjoyable but slight (the Buddy Holly-referencing Cindy), repeat ideas heard better elsewhere (Be True, Loose Ends), and nod to heroes overtly (the enjoyable Chuck Berryish From Small Things, and the Orbison grandeur of The Time That Never Was).
As with his box set of demos and unreleased material in 1998, this collection shows how Springsteen refined ideas across songs and lifted old lines into new contexts.
He gives his all, however, and even on minor songs he sounds like a man thinking this could be his last shot at glory.
Artist: Jonathan Bree Album: A Little Night Music Label: Lil Chief Records Verdict: A record of dark beauty.
There's something effortlessly cinematic about the opening Overture to local musical conjuror Jonathan Bree's latest album. It manages to uniquely balance a more open, contented vein, and a determinedly dark and dire statement underneath, like the perfect soundtrack for Wuthering Heights. The theme is carried through into Drones & Satellites, while the arrangements take it into a distinctly more cosmic place, with a more melodic pop thread.
The balance of strings, piano parts, and percussion has a meticulously orchestrated feel, echoing the title's homage to classical music - a newfound interest of Bree's - particularly Russian ballet scores and the works of Bela Bartok. It's both eerie and intimate. There's also a distinctive nocturnal tone to the whole record, because of the glinting glockenspiel and shimmering string parts. That's not to say Bree has moved entirely away from the twinkling and occasionally sweet-and-sour pop songs he's long been known for.
There's a certain dry bleakness to tracks such as Tear Your Face Off and Weird Hardcore, which gives the record a slightly more Lynchian vibe than anything Bree's done before. Captivating.
- Lydia Jenkin
Khruangbin, The Universe Smiles Upon You
Artist: Khruangbin Album: The Universe Smiles Upon You Label: NightTimeStories/Southbound Verdict: And now for something different for backyard listening.
As summer arrives our attention turns to slower sounds, but if the thought of more barbecue reggae makes you queasy this (mostly) instrumental trio originally out of Texas can oblige with something special and pleasingly unexpected. Owing a little to the slow end of surf instrumentals (think the theme to The Endless Summer), a bit to the romantic side of the Shadows and psychedelic soul grooves, they also weave in some supple trip-hop and a bit of subtle Southeast Asia funk.
Quite an amalgam of reference points but the dreamy, distant sound of the lightly fuzzed guitar, head-nod rhythms, gentle exoticism and the occasional vocal passage to add another dimension make for something which commands repeat-play.
There aren't too many instrumental bands out there which - as they do here on Dern Kala - can start somewhere on a Thai beach at dusk, have you subliminally humming a Marvin Gaye tune and then take you home via Hawaii. Their name suggests something like "flying engine" or "aeroplane" in Thai apparently. But whatever it is, the take-off is smooth and there's no turbulence in these 40 minutes of flying first class.
- Graham Reid
G-Eazy, When it's Dark Out
Artist: G-Eazy Album: When it's Dark Out Label: RCA Verdict: Oakland rapper says no to naps.
Gerald Earl Gillum doesn't have the best rhyming skills. Neither does he have a fascinating back story, or a tonne of high profile hip-hop friends. Heck, with his slight frame, slicked back hair and leather jackets, he doesn't even look like a rapper. But the Oakland native is on the rise, his constant cycle of recording and touring living proof that dedication and hard work pays dividends.
Yes, G-Eazy's quickfire follow up to last year's debut These Things Happen is so expansive it gets a little too scattered in places. But his bigger ambitions are backed by improvements at every turn. There's better production: try the cascading thuds of You Got Me, the soulful strut across Of All Things, or the SBTRKT-style dance antics of Calm Down for proof.
G-Eazy's emerged from hundreds of shows a better rapper too. "I was dreamin' of award shows, while still on the couch, Fame is all so new to me, Guess I'm feelin' it out" he reminisces on Sad Boy, a song that reflects on some humble beginnings he's unlikely to return to. If he keeps this form up for another couple of albums, we could have a new Eminem on our hands.
Artist: Roy Orbison Album: One of the Lonely Ones Label: Universal Verdict: The Big O from long ago still walking the lonely avenue.
The cruel fates conspired against the great Roy Orbison. His personal life was blighted by tragedy and his career was a series of brief highs and then long periods far from the spotlight.
In the early-mid 60s he was a star but by 1967, when he topped the bill over the Yardbirds and the Walker Brothers, many people at the Auckland Town Hall walked out on him. As a ballad singer who stood stock still on stage he just didn't seem that interesting to those people.
Orbison's voice was given him by kinder deities ... and when coupled with what we knew of his private tragedies it made those dark songs all the more resonant.
These songs were apparently recorded between January and August of 1969 - when his career had stalled completely - and have only been recently discovered in the vaults. Whether they were intended as a complete album is uncertain but they were certainly from a low point in his life following the death of his wife in 1966 then the house fire that killed his two young sons in 1968.
It is an unusual collection because the songs seem so archetypal: There are songs of maturity that explore loneliness and Orbison as the outsider/observer (Say No More, the dramatic and political The Defector positioned in the Vietnam conflict), others harking back to his pop style of the late 50s-early 60s (Laurie, Give Up) and a couple that could take their place alongside his classics but don't quite have the same frisson (Leaving Makes the Rain Come Down, the orchestrated title track, Child Woman, Woman Child).
There's a Memphis soul setting on Little Girl in the Big City (which recalls both Leah and Pretty Woman in places) and the exceptional piano ballad After Tonight which deserved to be a huge hit. And Sweet Memories is so naked an autobiographical tribute to his late wife it is hard to listen to without shedding a tear.
He also covers the standard You'll Never Walk Alone which almost sounds written for him.
And that raises as interesting thought. Because many of these lyrics almost sound so "Orbison" you'd be forgiven for thinking that some of those stars of The Black And White Night tribute to Roy (Petty, Springsteen, Costello) had somehow beamed themselves back in time to write for him.
The many of us who loved Roy Orbison will delight in hearing these songs, even if they don't add much to his legacy. Just hearing his voice again on "new" songs reminds you what a gift he had.
We might wish, however, that someone had given more thought to the artwork this one comes in. All that time and energy restoring these songs, and then to wrap it in this cover?
Artist: Tiny Ruins & Hamish Kilgour Album: Hurtling Through Label: Flying Nun Verdict: An intimate, inventive folk delight.
Hollie Fullbrook and Hamish Kilgour of The Clean first met in New York in 2013 and spent a week performing shows together, before heading into a basement studio to record two songs on Fullbrook's final day in the city. They completed the seven-track collection a year later, taking inspiration from WB Yeats poetry, field recordings of spoons played on lamposts and railings, and an atmosphere of gentle optimism versus gentle cynicism.
It's a warm, raw record, with a 70s-folk glow, but also a timeless quality in the inventive arrangements. It feels like being in a small cafe or lounge for a special concert with Fullbrook and Kilgour (and maybe a few extra hands to help with the many percussion instruments, as well as guitars, cello, organ, and dulcimer) cosily set around Fullbrook's magical vocals.
The array of sounds on Public Menace is a delight. A simple field recording which sees Kilgour playing that aforementioned spoon, as well as some harmonica, and having a charming conversation with Fullbrook - mentioning he was once described as a public menace - stands out despite not being a song. Of the rest, everyone will have their own favourites, but the Yeats lyric "Tread softly because you tread on my dreams" on opening track Tread Softly is delivered with perfection.
Artist: Freddie Gibbs Album: Shadow of a Doubt Label: ESGN Verdict: Rapper emerges from the shadows.
The cover art for Freddie Gibbs' fourth album shows the Indiana rapper's face completely obscured by shadow. It's a great metaphor for Gibbs' career, which has suffered plenty of mishaps, from record label issues and mismanagement to a 2014 shooting when a gunman opened fire on his car, injuring two friends. It's left him a little faceless in the rap world, but if you've slept on him, now might be a good time to sit up and take notice. Pinata, his collaboration with Madlib, was one of last year's best rap records, and Shadow of a Doubt continues that fine form. Gibbs is a rapper's rapper, an old-school perfectionist who, technically, could probably hold his own against wordsmiths like Kendrick Lamar.
Here he comes across like a rougher, angrier Pusha T with a collection of grimy drug tales reminiscent of The Wire. Gibbs is at his best when he's remembering the bad old days, offering bleak windows to that world on hazy romps like Narcos and F***in' Up the Count. "I did a lot of bad things just to get change," he raps on the sinister grind of Forever and a Day. "Man I'm so high I can't even look my own momma in the eyes."
Bleak, yes, but it's gripping listening, and adds up to another contender for rap album of the year.
- Chris Schulz
Coldplay, A Head Full of Dreams
Artist: Coldplay Album: A Head Full of Dreams Label: Parlophone Verdict: An album of woooaaahhh, instead of woe.
Where Coldplay's 2014 album Ghost Stories was a somewhat downcast and subdued affair of heartbreak and uncoupling, an album of woe if you will, then A Head Full Of Dreams is an album of "woaahhhhh".
In fact you get about two and a half minutes before a great chorus of voices is singing exactly that on the opening title track, accompanied by the expected anthemic Coldplay chords and some U2-ish kind of guitar riffery, albeit mixed into a pumping upbeat dance track with nightclub intentions.
This is the effortlessly optimistic, air punching, multi-coloured, lighter-waving, balloon-dropping Coldplay of old, back on form. Yes there's a reasonable helping of cheese, but that's always part of the Coldplay package.
Coldplay.
It's an album that sounds like Chris Martin has accepted life's hurdles (ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow sings backing vocals on Everglow, a track that seems to be all about reconciling the end of a 10-year relationship) and finding his (admittedly sometimes overwhelming) joy again.
There's lyrics about stars and soaring birds and beating hearts and "feeling drunk 'n' high", and there's shimmering tambourines, fleet-fingered piano playing and woohoos aplenty as the tracks swing between more traditional guitar-led melodies and beats drawn from disco, EDM, and RnB worlds.
The band set out to make something big and pop-tastic by the sounds of things, hiring Stargate, the Norwegian production duo behind hits by Beyonce and Rihanna, and even got Beyonce in, to collaborate on dynamic early highlight Hymn For The Weekend.
They also rope in Swedish indie pop darling Tove Lo for vocals on sweeping romantic ballad Fun, and slightly oddly, grab a snatch of Barack Obama's Amazing Grace speech for the weirdly soundscapey hippie-ish Colour Spectrum.
There are a few slightly experimental touches, but on their seventh album Coldplay are mostly sticking with the recipe they know works so well, and who could blame them? These songs will fit right into their already comprehensive setlist of stadium anthems for the 2016 world tour.
- Lydia Jenkins
Greg Johnson, Swing the Lantern
Artist: Greg Johnson Album: Swing the Lantern Label: Johnson Music Verdict: Nice work from veteran expat
The best bits of Greg Johnson's past albums - there have been 10 of them- would suggest he'd be a pretty good hired-gun songwriter should aspiring pop stars come knocking, reflective ballads and piano-based mid-tempo folk-rockers a speciality. It's been noted before that when he gets up a head of steam, Johnson can sound quite a lot like Coldplay (if Coldplay remembered how to write songs, not productions).
But based in Los Angeles for a more than a decade, it seems Johnson has kicked on under his own name, with help from US television networks placing his tracks on shows and a loyal fanbase crowdfunding this and his previous album.
By the sounds of it, it's been donated money well spent. It's a record that magnifies Johnson's singer-songwriter intimate sketches to a lush wide screen and occasional stadium ambitions - both No One Makes It Alone and Why Won't Love Give In? suggest they could come off the bench and play for Chris Martin's mob.
They're both fine songs, too. No One Makes It Alone takes a list of history's great team efforts - Hillary and Tenzing, Benny and the Jets, Sonny and Cher among them - and pumps them up into an infectious stirring anthem.
If it's rockin' a little harder at times. maybe that's down to the influence of drummer-producer Wayne Bell, who joined Johnson regular sidemen like Ted Brown and Mark Hughes in LA for an extended rehearse-record session which appears to have given this set a cohesiveness as well.
Though it's not always shouting to the rafters. Sometimes songs like No Need for Invitation and Downtown Shanghai drift sweetly across the piano keys, while Never Turn Back and Waiting Up For Rain suggest the laptop demos didn't need much elaborating on.
Add a couple of captivating yarn-spinners near the end - the slow-burning epic Israel about a guy of that name, not the country; the amusing ivory tickler Stone Cold Sober on a Saturday Night - and the result is one of Johnson's most ambitious and most engaging albums yet.
