Last Shadow Puppets The Age of the Understatement
When Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and The Rascals' singer Miles Kane bonded on tour over a love of 60s grandiose pop and kitchen-sink melodrama, few knew it would lead to an album's worth o
f material. We can only be grateful for the fact that it did, however, for The Age Of The Understatement is a great album. Turner and Kane have crafted a dozen layered, atmospheric, emotional epics. The Burt Bacharach-esque brass and strings of Meeting Place evoke Swinging Sixties London, while Black Plant is the musical father of 505, the closing track to the Monkeys' second album Favourite Worst Nightmare.
Alabama 3 Hits and Exit Wounds
They've been making music together for nearly 20 years but this retrospective collection proves there's still plenty of life in London acid-house country hybrid Alabama 3. At 18 tracks long, Hits And Exit Wounds offers plenty of bang for your buck, but perhaps only diehard fans will want to listen to it all in one hit. Stand-out tracks include Woke Up This Morning (instantly recognisable to any fans of The Sopranos as the series' theme tune), Hello... I'm Johnny Cash and Hypo Full Of Love (The 12 Step Plan). Rollicking good fun.
Brandi Carlile The Story
Brandi Carlile is a 26-year-old singer songwriter from Ravensdale, Washington. Brandi was raised on a diet of country and bluegrass by her family, and it certainly shows on this, her second album. With a voice somewhere between Sheryl Crow and KT Tunstall, she's plenty of rootsy appeal, and on songs such as opener Late Morning Lullaby, Cannonball and the title track, she demonstrates it to dazzling effect. There's nothing earth-shattering here, and at times you might actually think you're listening to Sheryl Crow, but nevertheless, The Story is a well-made album, consistent and hugely enjoyable. Sometimes, that's enough.
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