Leonard Cohen - Upon A Smokey Evening

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A decent FM recording

This is quite a decent "unofficial" recording. 

Cohen is in good voice and the performances are all well worth hearing.  But then, that's true of pretty well all the many "unofficial" live recordings of Cohen now available.  The real question is whether the sound quality is good enough, and I'd say it's not bad here.  It's not modern CD standard and there is audible FM hiss pretty well throughout, but it's pretty quiet so I don't find it too intrusive and there is none of the flutter or fade found on some of these recorded FM broadcasts.

So, if you want yet another recording of Cohen live in concert – which I confess that I do! – this isn't flawless but it's perfectly listenable and I'd say it is worth getting.

Humble Pie - Official Bootleg Box Set Vol.1

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Great band, terrible sound

I took a risk on this album because I was at The Valley in 1974 and saw Humble Pie's set.  They were terrific, and I thought a record of it would be good.  Sadly the sound quality on this and the other recordings is very poor. 

Humble Pie were a fine band and you can get glimpses of it here, but for me the terrible recordings make it impossible to enjoy.  However good the shows were, this sort of quality should not be sold commercially, in my view – certainly not without very clear warnings to the buying public.  Rather than reliving part of a great day in 1974, I find I'm straining to get much sense of any real coherence in the sound and failing to enjoy the music.  It's a shame, but I can't recommend this.

Sheryl Crow - Be Myself

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good album from Sheryl Crow

I like this album a lot.  I wasn't too sure about it on first hearing but it's grown on me on repeated hearing.  I'm not sure it's a classic, but it's very good - and Sheryl Crow has certainly still got it.

This is an album of generally rocky, quite tuneful songs at the more pop end of Crow's output.  It's a really enjoyable listen with more depth than may at first appear.  There's plenty of toe-tapping stuff - for which the opener, Alone In The Dark sets the tone - but there's some still beaty but more mournful stuff in the lovely Strangers Again, for example, and quite biting social comment in other places.  Woo Woo, for example, is about the sexualisation of young people, with lines like "Every time I check my twitter, someone's butt is in my face" and in the title track she says

"Hanging with the hipsters is a lot of hard work;

How many selfies can you take before you look like a jerk?"

Well, quite.  It's good lyrical stuff which, as always with Sheryl Crow, repays careful attention.

It's a consistently good album, and while there probably isn't anything of the brilliance originality of classics like There Goes The Neighbourhood, there's nothing weak here.  The band are great, production is excellent and Crow herself sings and plays with real class.  Overall I think it's very good rather than truly great, but it's very enjoyable, it certainly bears repeated listening and I can recommend it.

Will Payne Harrison - East Nashville Blues

Rating: 4/5

Review:
An enjoyable album

This is a very decent album, I think.   I tried it on a bit of a whim because I hadn't heard Will Payne Harrison before and I rather like it.

East Nashville Blues veers toward the Country end of the Americana spectrum, with a very easy, relaxed overall sound.  The songs are well crafted with agreeable melodies and a distinctly downbeat lyrical style, full of heartache, death and hardship. They aren't short of a modulation into minor keys to go with this, and the effect is pleasing if a little familiar-sounding.  The title track tells of Harrison's struggle as an aspiring musician, but like a couple of others - notably High As Willie - it's done with a little wit which helps a lot.  There's some good backing from a smallish band, nice harmonies and some good fiddle and dobro to add to the mix.

This isn't an album to stand out from the crowd (and in this genre it's a big crowd at the moment) but it's a very decent piece of work.  There's talent and craftsmanship here which combine to make a pleasing listen and I'll be looking out for more from Will Payne Harrison - I think he may be a name to watch as things develop.

Emily Barker - Sweet Kind Of Blue

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An outstanding album

This is simply great.  I have loved Emily Barker's work for several years now and this is one of her very best albums, I think.  I expected it to be good but I was still taken by surprise at just how good it is. 

Emily Barker is a really classy songwriter.  Here, she covers a real variety of themes from love/lust in songs like the title track, a tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharp (Sister Goodbye), the plight of refugees making the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean (Over My Shoulder), a truly lovely break-up song (No. 5 Hurricane)  and so on.  Every one is a gem of sharp, incisive lyric writing, lovely melody and fabulous arrangement.  There is a soulful, sometimes really funky feel to the album which is a new sound for Barker, and she does it really well, with an absolutely cracking band and her own vocals and instrumental work.  Try the full-on funk of Sunrise or the astonishing solo vocal of Precious Memories and you'll see what I mean.  It's a pleasure from start to finish.

I don't often gush like this over an album, but I genuinely think Sweet Kind Of Blue is exceptional.  Emily Barker is a class act all round; she has already won prestigious awards for her songs (including a BAFTA and an Ivor Novello Award) and deserves to be far more widely known and appreciated.  This is an exceptional piece of work from a very fine writer and performer and I can recommend it very warmly indeed.

Joan Shelley - Joan Shelley

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very fine album

I like this album very much.  I confess that I hadn't come across Joan Shelley until seeing her on the Jools Holland programme; I was impressed enough to try the album and I'm very glad I did.  In an age were we are incredibly blessed with excellent female singer-songwriters, I think Joan Shelley stands proudly among them.

This is a quiet, contemplative album of thoughtful songs which have a real musical and lyrical intelligence about them, sung with a lovely, expressive voice.  Shelley reminds me in places of Alela Diane with her haunting voice and some slightly quirky melodic structures, but she is also capable of writing a simply beautiful song like Where I'll Find You, which is a real gem, I think.  The arrangement and production is excellent; generally fairly simple but extremely well judged so that every song speaks beautifully.

My advice is to listen to a few samples.  If you like what you hear, don't hesitate; this is a classy album of very good songs, very well performed and one of the major finds of the year for me.  Warmly recommended.

Blondie - Pollinator

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good album

Blondie have still got it.  This is a very good (if slightly patchy) album which surprised me slightly with the quality of some of the tracks.

The sound is vintage Blondie.  Deborah Harry's voice is still pretty true; it lacks some of that brilliant bite she had 40 years ago, but she still sounds great, with the sincerity of delivery which some of younger singers would do well to study. Her bandmates just sound like Blondie – than which there is little higher praise, I think.  The material is good in general.  For me that album starts fantastically with three terrific tracks, sags a little in the middle where the songs are decent but not great, and then finishes with a real bang with three absolute belters.  I'm not sure that this is a classic, but it's very good, with good material, some excellent performances and very well-judged production so the overall sound is excellent. 

In the closing song, the excellent Fragments, Deborah Harry sings "Do you love me now?"  Well, yes, Debbie.  Always have, always will – and this is well worthy of such a long-loved singer and band.  Recommended

John & Beverly Martyn - Stormbringer

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Still a fine album

I went back to Stormbringer recently after far too long and I was reminded what an excellent album it is.  After getting on for half a century it still sounds very good indeed.

This is a collection of largely very good songs, excellently performed.  There is a good glimpse of the guitar work which developed into near-genius and the singing is terrific.  John's voice and delivery has always had the ability to go straight to my heart and Beverley sounds just great here; lovely tone and a wonderfully bluesy delivery sometimes.  Some of the material, too, like the title track, John The Baptist and Can't Get The One I Want is absolutely first rate.

 The album isn't perfect.  The Ocean and Tomorrow Time are pleasant enough but aren't great songs and Sweet Honesty rambles on a little too long, but I really was surprised to find how well it had stood up and what a fine album it remains. 

(There is some "Bonus" material on the re-release which doesn't add up to much.  It's some demo recordings which are interesting to hear once and which long-term fans like me will probably be glad to have in their collection, but personally I just want to hear the album as it is on my original vinyl copy.)

In short, this is still a fine album which I can recommend wholeheartedly.

John Martyn - Head and Heart; The Acoustic John Martyn

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Brilliant stuff

Of course this is brilliant - it's the great John Martyn playing some of his greatest songs.  Personally, I've always liked Martyn's acoustic work the best (I make some notable exceptions for  brilliant electric tracks like Sweet Little Mystery and others)  because I think acoustic work usually suits his voice and delivery best and shows what a brilliant, brilliant guitarist he was.

This is a compilation of album tracks, live recordings and alternate takes (some unreleased) and it's all just great stuff.  For seasoned fans like me it's worth getting for the new stuff and if you're looking for a place to start with John Martyn you could do a lot worse than this.  It's a really good compilation and a fitting tribute to one of the greats of the last 50 years.