Richard Thompson
Still
AFTER almost 50 years in the music business, Richard Thompson shows no sign of slowing down at the ripe age of 66. Indeed, this collection may be his best in several years.
Ever since his beginnings with Fairport Convention, the London-born musician's virtuoso guitar-playing has been his key asset and he demonstrates it here on All Buttoned Up before using the closing tour de force Guitar Heroes to pay homage to influences including Django Reinhardt, Les Paul and Chuck Berry.
His versatility extends to the slow, haunting Broken Doll and Josephine, the pitch-dark Dungeons For Eyes and the uber-traditional Pony In The Stable, while opener She Never Could Resist A Winding Road carries always-welcome echoes of his classic Beeswing.
FOUR STARS
Tom White
Joy Williams
Venus
IT'S easy to hear why Joy Williams has won four Grammys. Powerful, soulful and always hitting the right note, the former Civil Wars singer's voice is the stuff sweet lullabies are made of. Her new album is filled with it and an unendingly earnest vibe: "I'd love to write a happy song/One day I will," she sings.
While earnest, the 32-year-old's music isn't endearing and is weirdly distant – unlike similar-sounding Florence And The Machine, you're listening to her inner world, never let into it.
Williams has a perfect voice, seamless production and it's boringly faultless; only in Sweet Love Of Mine does her voice break, and there it's straight up beautiful. The rest just washes over.
THREE STARS
Tobias Chapple
Rickie Lee Jones
The Other Side of Desire
DURING the course of a three-decade career, Chicago-born singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones has embraced many musical styles with equal success, incorporating jazz, blues, country and pop into her recordings.
Now 60, she has once again utilised these genres into The Other Side Of Desire, to mesmerising effect, her smoky vocals perfectly suiting the 11 tracks. Jones first sprang to prominence in 1979 with her eponymous debut album, which went to number four in the US Billboard album chart, and spawned her best-known song, the number three hit, Chuck E's In Love.
She also became romantically involved with Tom Waits, a union which did not last. Since then, her star has waned somewhat in commercial terms, but she remains as beguiling a songwriter as ever. The witty opener Jimmy Choos, the lovely Blinded By The Hunt and equally captivating Feet On The Ground are conclusive proof that Jones hasn't lost her mojo.
FOUR STARS
Kim Mayo)
Joywave
How do you feel now?
HAILING from Rochester, New York, Joywave cover a musical spectrum from indie rock to electronica on their debut album, How Do You Feel Now? When the five-piece play it straight, it works brilliantly.
Opener Somebody New, which sounds like Passion Pit jamming with LCD Soundsystem, is three and a half minutes of radio-friendly pop bliss, while the Killers-esque Now and the 1980s-influenced Nice House also suggest this is a band with the songwriting nous to cross over into the mainstream.
However, when the bleeps and beats take precedence over the tunes, as on the sample-heavy In Clover, the forgettable Feels Like A Lie and the trippy album closer Bad Dreams, the results are less impressive and come across as little more than album filler.
THREE STARS
Daren Francis
Neal Schon
Vortex
THE well-known Journey man and Santana collaborator has plugged in his axe, gathered a collection of friends and produced this double CD of 18 instrumentals. As would be expected, the production is as smooth as the paintwork on the Lamborghini the 61-year-old musician is standing next to on the cover and, although the pace varies, within certain boundaries, from track to track, somehow very little actually surprises.
There can be no doubt about Schon's guitar-playing abilities but there is such a lack of risk-taking that it makes the whole package somewhat frustrating.
While it's difficult to find any real fault with this album, it comes over as if any rough edges have been polished out leaving just a mirror finish. Keeping a few in would have made for a far more exciting product.
THREE STARS
Steve Grantham
Kacey Musgraves
Pageant Material
IF KACEY Musgraves is to be country's next crossover star, it will be on her terms. Stating on Dime Store Cowgirl that "that's all I'm ever gonna be", the 26-year-old remains as unapologetically herself as on her major-label debut Same Trailer, Different Park.
The Texan-born singer dedicated a recent performance of her anthem to open-mindedness, Follow Your Arrow, in support of America's legalisation of same-sex marriage, while Good Ol' Boys Club has been widely interpreted as a shot at Taylor Swift and the "big machine" (Swift's record label).
"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't", Musgraves sings on the self-deprecating title track. Judging by the buzz around the album, she is deservedly winning for what she is.
FOUR STARS
Tom White
