Roots

The latest releases reviewed

THE BELLAMY BROTHERS Jesus Is Coming Curb

I'm getting so soft in my dotage that it is a rare album on which I don't find something to admire. But this bunch of songs really sets my teeth on edge. The Bellamy Brothers were the authors and perpetrators of that staple of weddings, Let Your Love Flow (yes, it is a bit dodgy when you think about it!), and Jesus Is Coming is their contribution to the country Gospel world. It's a fairly tacky genre, loud in its dedications but often devoid of any real spirituality - and their take on it is tackier than most. How about Lord Help Me Be the Kind of Person (My Dog Thinks I Am) or the title track, in which the finger-wagging singer adds "and boy is he pissed" off. And, of course, there is a "gospel mix" of Let Your Love Flow. Everybody is entitled to believe whatever they want to get them through the night. Born-again Christians are no exception, but this kind of smarmy drivel does them no service at all. www.bellamybrothers.com   JOE BREEN

Download tracks: Old Hippie 111 (Saved), Spiritually Bankrupt

JIM BRYSON Where the Bungalows Roam Independent

The tracks of guitarist Jim Bryson's suburban tears are littered through this short (35 minutes), slow- burning, quirky, Canadian alt.pop offering. This is Bryson's third album but the first I've heard. It occupies the same slightly askew emotionally heartfelt landscape as the Pernice Brothers. The gentle, rounded melodies and literate, slightly self-conscious lyrics provide late-night solace and empathy for the lost and the lonely - or those who just enjoy a talented singer-songwriter emptying his heart out in 11 low-key songs that sound better with each listen. There are a couple of standout tracks (the ringing Sleeping in Toronto, the brutally honest Pissing on Everything) but this album operates as an entity rather than a collection of disparate tracks, with Bryson's whispered, gravel voice a constant signature. www.jimbryson.org   JOE BREEN

Download tracks: Sleeping in Toronto, Clear the Crowds, Death by Vibration