POP/ROCK

Latest CD releases reviewed

BADLY DRAWN BOY
One Plus One Is One XL/Twisted Nerve
**

The world divides between those who fête Damon Gough - aka Badly Drawn Boy - as an off-beam genius and those who find his songs smug, muddled and only loosely acquainted with notions such as melody and artistic coherence. Anchored firmly in the latter category, this reviewer was not surprised to discover Gough's fourth album no less bafflingly irascible than its predecessors, trading ruinously on the Bolton native's supposedly disarming love of a shambolic arrangement while peddling a saccharine sentimentality that would have The Corrs spluttering into their tin whistles. Admittedly, the project is a touch less stiflingly over-produced than 2002's Los Angeles-recorded Have You Seen the Fish? (well, it was made in Stockport). However, as a coherent work, it frustrates as thoroughly as any previous Gough offering. A record you will want to scold severely and send to bed without supper.

www.badlydrawnboy.co.uk

Ed Power

PATTI SCIALFA
23rd Street Lullaby Columbia
****

So who exactly wears the trousers in a marriage where the husband is known as The Boss? Patti Scialfa - Mrs Bruce Springsteen - releases a solo album, and you'd be forgiven for immediately thinking the following: who in their right minds working at Sony is going to refuse to put it out? The really good news is that this is pretty damned good, indubitably American it may be (think Mink De Ville crossed with Tom Petty, with a hint of credible Sheryl Crow mixed with a sprinkling of Springsteen). But Scialfa tones down the grandiose settings for something far earthier. Story-driven and character-populated, songs such as You Can't Go Back, City Boys, State of Grace and Chelsea Avenue exude the type of Americana that many reach for but fail to grasp. Yes, she has the family connections, but her voice here sounds true and real, while the songs are imbued with melody lines that can't fail to attract the attention. It seems The Boss has just had his ass kicked.

Tony Clayton-Lea

PICTUREHOUSE
Get Yer Hits Out! Wacca Wacca
*

Hmmm, too much time spent looking at all the admiring girlies down the front, I'll warrant. Picturehouse may be worse at punning than Ticket sub-editors, but they are one of Ireland's more successful acts, and their middle-of-the-road pop has become woven into the nation's fabric (remember that ad featuring Sunburst?). Their appeal, however, is purely local (although I'm assured they're popular in Germany, too) and largely confined to hairdressy types who like their music bouncy, melodic, terminally bland and utterly inoffensive. Yes, Pornstar is a bit racy, and Everybody Loves My Girl is about a slut, but Heavenly Day, Somebody Somewhere and She make Barenaked Ladies sound like rock monsters. And a cover of Joan Osborne's One Of Us? Jesus wept. www.picturehouse.ie

Kevin Courtney

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Purple Rainbows - The Best of Deep Purple, Rainbow, Whitesnake and Gillan EMI/Universal
*

OK, so we've milked all Deep Purple's greatest hits, putting out best ofs, live DVDs and boxed sets, and sticking tracks on back-to-the-'70s compilations, air guitar albums and metal legends CDs. What next? I know! Let's gather together all the offshoot bands, side projects, reunions and anybody who has roadied for the band, and cobble 'em all together on a double CD. We've got Purple's Black Night, Smoke on the Water and Child in Time, Rainbow's Since You've Been Gone, Whitesnake's Here I Go Again, Gillan's Trouble and, just to fill out this 32-track hair-metal fest, tracks from Rainbow vocalists Ronnie James Dio and Graham Bonnet. Next up: Crimson Lakes - The Very Best of King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Nice and Atomic Rooster. Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh.

[ www.umtv.co.uk ]

Kevin Courtney

JUANA MOLINA
Segundo Domino
****

Although famous in Argentina as a television comedienne, Juana Molina originally fine-honed her musical talents in Paris between coup d'états at home. Little wonder, then, that her second album combines the playful skip of whimsy with a march of serious purpose. Weaving electronic squiggles and burbling beats through a minimal folksy approach, Molina can shape naïve melodies, yapping puppies, applauding toddlers and even Argentinean literary texts into vehicles for airy vocals and detuned synths. That her dance beats and gently swooning effects push every hip button from Björk to Beth Orton to Stereolab is no bad thing, but few contemporaries could match the offbeam pleasure of Martín Fierro or the subtle thrill of Mantra del Bicho Feo. Ethereal, dissonant, at times deceptively innocent - Segundo's unusual charms won't waste a second.

www.juanamolina.com

Peter Crawley