Cracker – Greatest Hits Redux (Cooking Vinyl) 27/03/2006

Cheekily re-recorded – but not enough to upset hardcore long term fans – in a possible attempt to scupper the band’s former major label Virgin’s plans to release the original versions on a compilation later this year, this is Cracker’s gift to those who have stuck with them throughout the years.

I have to say, I’m quite ashamed to admit that I’d completely forgotten just how damn good this band was! From the opening roar of the seminal underground classic “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)”, through splendid nostalgic anthems that take me back to my early twenties like “Low” (aaah, the heady old days of going mental on the dancefloor of The Fan Club) and the pleasing country twang of “Lonesome Johnny Blues”, the sun soaked festival chillout of “Euro Trash Girl” and many others I’d previously overlooked, David Lowery and Johnny Hickman have convinced me that the world would have been a less appealing place without them.

Somehow the songs here are given a new lease of life too – better than their original versions and this therefore becomes one of those “must have” albums for any budding collectors. 8/10

Tone E

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Nightmare of You – Nightmare of You (Full Time Hobby) 27/03/2006

I’m sorry Ian (you know who you are), but this album DOES sound like a band doing a load of covers of Smiths b-sides. Thing is though, that’s not a bad thing at all, because the latter group’s flipsides were often good enough to be the lead track, and that’s the case here too. Sort of, if you see what I mean.

You’ll already know the opening track, “The Days Go By Oh So Slow”, from its appearance on several Sky/Cable music stations and a fair amount of airplay on Radio 1 and 6Music. Then we’re hit with an onslaught of infinitely catchy tunes throughout, the best of which is probably “I Want to be Buried in Your Backyard”, and you can’t help but finish listening to the album with a great big cheesy smile on your face.

I still think the whole thing sounds like a unique hybrid of The Smiths, Green Day and The Killers though, and, occasionally (and bizarrely) Madness. Not that this has any relevance on the end result, which is as easy to like as a good curry after a night on the town. 8/10

Tone E

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[DVD] Tori Amos – Fade to Red (Rhino) us; 14/02/2006 uk; 27/03/2006

From humble beginnings and persoanl crises, Tori Amos has, against the odds, built a glorious career and reputation that puts her right at the top of the tree where the "greatest female artist" conversation cops up. Always innovative, Tori's creativity can be viewed in full on this 19-video career retrospective. There are two further bonus promos of the UK #1 smash remix "Professional Widow", and the made for Blighty version of "Cornflake Girl".

N: The videos speak for themselves, wonderfully crafted images that fit well into Tori's original compositions. That an artist, at this point in their career, is given the opportunity to open their journal and present this to the world, is hugely enjoyable; however it's not just that, it's the fact that the interface constructed in which the content sits on this DVD is beautifully portrayed. The video to the club smash "Professional Widow" featured here on both discs' bonus content is just something else, a collage of video that's such a buzz.

T: They're always interesting, as well as slightly warped, these videos, much like Tori's songs themselves. The fact that you get them all on a double DVD and it comes in the most sublime packaging makes this the first absolutely essential visual item to have in your collection this year. I met Tori Amos about ten years ago and she came across as sweet, sexy, honest and warm. This recollection is reinforced by her fascinating commentaries on the ideas behind each video and, whereas in some film commentaries the director's voiceover can get a little tiresome, you can easily sail through the entire two disc set here without getting bored of Tori's musings. In short this is an utterly compelling feast for your ears and eyes and Rhino deserve the highest praise possible for putting out, once again, such a high quality product. Just fantastic.

N: And it's the commentary that adds an insight to visuals you might otherwise have, once watched, forgotten. Here you are allowed to gorge yourself on what is laid before you and taske away countless stories that make Tori's music both passionate listening and now seeing. 10/10

Sample the wares, click on the following to stream Quicktime videos - (get Quicktime here - for mac and pc);

A Sorta Fairytale / Hey Jupiter / Past The Mission

Ecard - click here

Everything Tori: click here

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Leon – Uppers and Downers (Freezer Recordings) 20/03/2006

This Derby band got fed up of waiting for a label and decided to set their own one up, so full credit to them for that, and it’s rather a suave bunch of punchy pop tunes that has impressed Jonathan Ross, Janice Long and XFM’s Claire Sturgess in equal measures.

Although frontman Leon Black’s inspirations lie in the guitar pop of The Police and The Beatles, somehow I can’t help wandering back to the early nineties and a certain minorly successful band called Airhead. Back then, the music world didn’t seem quite ready for that kind of outfit, so time will tell whether it’s any different on this occasion.

They’re certainly immensely enjoyable toe tappers, the lot of ‘em, but I can’t help thinking that at times, these songs would benefit from a punchier, less weedy production. They’re a lot of fun, mind blowingly catchy, and more than capable of scoring a major hit in the future but it all needs beefing up a bit.

Leon are definitely ones to watch though, I’ll give them that. 7/10

Tone E

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Suzzy and Maggie Roche – Why the Long Face (Cooking Vinyl) 20/03/2006

I’ll be honest with you. I have been trying really hard to enjoy this album. I desperately wanted to like it, but ultimately, I just found myself feeling extremely bored with it. A perfect cure for insomnia if ever I’ve heard one, which is doubly bad for me because I never have trouble getting to sleep as it is!

That’s not to say this is all completely dull though. There ARE moments of unquestionable brilliance, such as the elegant “I Don’t Have You”, which was written by an old friend of the band, and “The Warwick Flag” is hugely satisfying, but the rest of this family band’s new album quite frankly bores the living daylights out of me. I’ll tell you how much – I decided to listen to this while watching the Middlesbrough vs Bolton match – a 4-3 thriller – and I missed most of the goals because “Why the Long Face” sent me to sleep at regular intervals. Not pleased. 4/10

Tone E

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Robert Love – Ghost Flight (One Little Indian) 13/03/2006

Sometimes, inspiration comes from the most unlikely places. Such is the case with Alabama 3’s Robert Love, who was forced to have extensive surgery on his neck after he head butted a skinhead at an anti-racist festival! It’s a great story but one that was a nerve wracking experience for Love, and it’s this intrepid realisation of his own mortality that injects many of the songs here with a poignant, mystical quality.

As a result, many of the folksy country tunes here have an enormous spiritualism to them that make you feel great just to be who you are. Take “The Pirate Radio Station” as a prime example, which just urges you to put all your troubles to one side, embrace the world and just enjoy life!

If you remember what Fun Lovin’ Criminals sounded like when they chilled out for “Loco”, think of that album and mellow it out about 5 times more, then you’ll begin to get a picture of how this album sounds. Nice. 7/10

Tone E

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Gary Numan – Jagged (Cooking Vinyl) 13/03/2006

Gary Numan has been consistently putting out quality albums since he began finding his “dark side”, and “Jagged” is no exception. It explodes into life with the really quite creepy and dramatic “Pressure” and continues with this other worldly undercurrent through to the eponymously titled finale.

To say this was simply a dark, downbeat album would be doing something of an injustice however, as there are many moments of tremendous uplift hidden beneath the record’s gloomy exterior. You could equate a lot of it to, say, being locked in a dark, dank prison cell for five years, but finding a million quid stuffed in your pillowcase three years before your release. It’s THAT kind of optimism.

Of course, this is not going to surprise everybody – it’s a typical Numan release after all, a bit like Nine Inch Nails going head to head with Korn, but three and a half decades have done nothing to stifle the man’s creative edge. This is an album of eleven sweat soaked nightmares, but the kind you remember for many years to come. 8/10

Tone E

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dios (malos) – dios (malos) (Full Time Hobby) 06/03/2006

It’s fantastic when an album comes along that strokes your insides and resonates with you like this one does.
Fans of the band’s more experimental debut album may be a little concerned about the commerciality of it all, but I honestly think it adds a kind of sharpness to them that makes this the best album of the year so far, surpassing even Arctic Monkeys.

Mostly it’s a remarkably laid back affair and begins with a cheeky nod to “Lady Madonna” by pilfering its bridge and using it as its chorus!
“Say Anything” is Clinic meets Magnet and current single “I Want It All” pays homage to Blur’s “Tender” whilst maintaining a dreamy guitar riff that gives it all a lush seventies feel.

Ok, so perhaps “So Do I” is a little over simplistic, but at times you HAVE to go back to basics before taking a rollercoaster ride on the creative conveyor belt. It all explodes into life again on “epk”, which is a magnificent epic beauty that puts Snow Patrol to shame.
Instrumental “Tokyo Sunrise (Excerpt from Flight Sequence)” is next and is quite possibly my favourite track on the whole album, with a bizarrely latin American feel. I’ve got my maracas out right now, if you must know…

Well, I could wax lyrical about the remaining tracks here one by one, but it would suffice for me to just say that they’re all near perfect pop songs, with musical references ranging from Bowie to the Jesus and Mary Chain, 10cc to The Beatles and The Band to The Kinks. Simply a magical album. 9/10

Tone E

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Morning Runner – Wilderness is Paradise Now (Parlophone) 06/03/2006

A dramatic crescendo opens proceedings here on “It’s Not Like Everyone’s My Friend” and pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album. I must admit, I’m not quite as struck on this band as my partner in crime is, but I don’t want to devalue it because there are indeed some scorchingly brilliant tunes herein.
“Gone Up in Flames”, as we mentioned before in an earlier single review, is a marvellous, rousing Hothouse Flowers meets The Waterboys kind of thing, and there’s a lot of depth running through the tracks here. In fact, my favourite part of the entire album is during the previously mentioned opener, where it all goes quiet and Matt Greener comes back in gently with “I’ll wake you up in about ten minutes”. That’s an indication to me that this band is capable of moments of genius.

Of course, there’s some poignant semi-classics here as well, like the recent single “Burning Benches”, and there’s no lack of emotion here, but sometimes I feel it all goes a bit overboard with sentimentality. Put simply, the faster tracks are some of the most joyous, uplifting tunes you’re likely to hear all year, but some of the slower ones seem to wallow a little too much in their own self pity. Actually there ISN’T really much self pitying going on if I’m totally honest, but if you can understand why people say that about Coldplay, you’ll understand what I’m saying here too.

It’s certainly a great platform to start from, because half the album is superlative, and the other half is “Yeah, whatever…” so hopefully there’ll be fireworks next time. 7/10

Tone E

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Emmerhoff & the Melancholy Babies – Electric Reverie (Plastichead) 06/03/2006

This band’s second studio album for label Plastichead, released in the UK, is apparently Bergen Rock at it’s best, well that’s alright then, clears up matters, but to proceed…

From Norway, Emmerhof write music that’s as far away from that I might’ve suspected. In no way thrashy or trashy, this instead treads a road once travelled by early 70’s band’s, full of folk sensibilities. Music for long hair and wide trousers, for switching off and absorbing whatever comes to hand, which at times can be an absorbing palette of misplaced chords and lack of structure. I get the feeling these guy’s, when writing for this, have picked from a wealth of influences that make this all the more interesting as listening out for these almost became a sport, this is one album I’m not going to give up on. 6/10

Nick James

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Living Things – Ahead of the Lions (Red Ink) 06/03/2006

I have no doubt whatsoever that Living Things will be huge within the rock fraternity. Whether they break into the hearts and minds of mainstream “man on the street” or not is another matter entirely.
They certainly have some kickass tunes – current single “Bom Bom Bom” is a case in point, and “I Owe” is, of course, worthy of “classic” status – but I’m not completely convinced that their tunes are quite infectious enough to make the transition from “well kept secret” to all seeing ,all conquering stadium legends. Then again, I don’t really WANT them to do that!

There are an abundance of bands you could compare certain sections of “..lions” to. I could hear Black Sabbath, T.Rex, Sonic Youth, Kiss, early Primal Scream, Motley Crue, Therapy? and Captain America ringing through – and that was just the first half of the album!

All in all this is a triumphant, no-nonsense, politically charged rock album that thrills and satisfies in equal measure. 8/10

Tone E

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Buzcocks - Flat-Pack Philosophy (Cooking Vinyl) 06/03/2006

One of the greatest pop bands of all time, Buzzcocks released around a dozen classic 3-minute singles back in the late 70's and early 80's. It is to their credit that they have continued ever since, without looking like the tired old has-beens they could so easily have become. Does Shelly and co's 8th studio album cut the mustard with Nick and Tone?

T: They've still got that punchy uplift...

N: That eager want in their sound...

T: ...And an incredible knack for writing infectious melodies that stick with you like a pan cake from the pan.

N: Some of the mixes between tracks may not be quite as slick as we're used to today, but this is 1977, isn't it?

T: It may as well be because Buzzcocks are still a great night at the pub, where you end up with a smile on you every time.

N: Simple, strong hooks that don't take rocket science to understand. And track 8, genius. 8/10

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