Latest CD releases reviewed

THE ROLLING STONES
Live Licks Virgin
****

The Stones' 2002- 2003 Licks tour was the second highest grossing tour of all time, beaten only by the band's earlier Voodoo Lounge outing; three-and-a-half million fans across the world were treated to their greatest hits, along with the odd cover and a few nuggets that hadn't been dusted off in years. Though tottering around the 60 mark, the Stones sound as strong and confident as young bucks on both these CDs, effortlessly demonstrating why they are still the Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World. CD-1 concentrates on the big stadium crowd-pleasers such as Brown Sugar, Paint It, Black, Start Me Up and Honky Tonk Woman (with guest Sheryl Crow); CD-2 brings up some buried treasure in the form of Monkey Man, Can't You Hear Me Knocking and When the Whip Comes Down. Solomon Burke guests on the finale, a cover of his Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, but sadly, it pales beside the Blues Brothers' version. Still, after treating us to so many hits and historic moments, you'd forgive the Stones for finishing with Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.

www.rollingstones.com
Kevin Courtney

SNOW PATROL
The Trip Family Recordings
**

There's always been a touch of well-meaning philanthropy to Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody. Before his band made the leap from indie journeymen to massive selling stars, he was a generous sponsor of Glasgow's fringe-tugging indie set, giving almost all of them a berth on his Reindeer Section side-project. The Trip, subtitled Bert & Ernie, is an extension of that munificence. On it, Snow Patrol do a tape, treating us to their favourite songs by a succession of underground indie no-marks and post-rock and electroclash chancers with just a few triumphant killers to lighten the mood. It's their bid to prove stardom hasn't changed them or diluted their support for the indie cause. Bert is built around beats opening with Low and Spring Heel Jack (a rare high point), before Sir Drew, Emperor Machine and Sex in Dallas take over. It is criminally dull. Ernie, less beats, is also made up for the most part of the wilfully obscure - from Deerhoof's tiresomely experimental Milking to the lo-fi whimsy of Hot Chip. Judging by all this, life on the Snow Patrol tourbus must be a riot. Only of interest to Snow Patrol completists and inverted musical snobs. www.snowpatrol.net
Paul McNamee

JIMMY SCOTT
Someone to Watch Over Me: The Definitive Jimmy Scott Warners
***


Kallmann's Syndrome is a hereditary hormonal deficiency that stunts growth and keeps the male voice from developing beyond boyhood. Jimmy Scott fought through the condition to become one of the most distinctive singers of his generation. Almost uniquely, he can cut straight to the emotional core of a lyric and do otherworldly things with the sentiments expressed. It's almost as if he has a delay pedal on his own voice - and his ability to sustain a note is downright spooky. The best part of his work is gathered together here on a two-CD set. The first features Scott tackling the great American songbook and providing some awesome deliveries. On the second CD, however, some fatuous record company type obviously persuaded him to cover a set of contemporary standards. Really, Scott is far superior to the material he's been given to work with. Holding Back the Years is curiously muted, while Lennon's Jealous Guy never takes off. And what is he doing covering Elton John's trite ballad Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word? Still, if you've yet to be introduced to this superlative vocalist, here's as good a place to start as any.
Brian Boyd

THE DONNAS
Gold Medal Atlantic
***

If bad girl Kim Kelly from Freaks and Geeks had started a band, that band would have been The Donnas. Or The Runaways, which is practically the same thing. From their authentically retro cover art to their rawk guitars, The Donnas make it clear that they're gonna party like it's 1979, which isn't a bad thing. Yes, they're pretty unoriginal, but it's hard not to like The Donnas. On this, their second major label album, the four California girls sound a bit less ramshackle than usual, but they still know how to write big dumb rock songs that sound a bit like The Ramones covering The Go-Gos. Gold medal? Well silver, at the very least.
Anna Carey

JEM
Finally Woken Ato/BMG
****

Hooking you from the very first line, Welsh singer-songwriter Jemma Griffiths's début is that strangest of beasts, an album that does not oversell itself or overstay its welcome. Relocated from Cardiff to California and with the cash from a Madonna songwriting credit already in her back pocket, Griffiths's music touches all the right radio-friendly bases, but in a manner that is far more wholesome than artificial. Both They and the title track bubble with Beth Orton-style folk and edgy, spooked melodies last encountered when Beth Gibbons was on the Portishead beat. In fact, it's the album's never-ending parade of smart, assured melodies as much as Griffiths' sweet, plaintive, sugar-free lilt that will have you humming. Throughout, spacey samples, soft-shuffle guitars and sleepy, gentle electronics illustrate and trace the most catchy of harmonies with ease. One to watch for 2005.
www.jem-music.net
Jim Carroll

FREEFORM FIVE
Strangest Things Ultimate Dilemma/ Atlantic
***

If you find Scissor Sisters a bit too frivolous, this electro acid-jazz disco quartet from London offer a slightly more cerebral form of retro dance pop. They've already made a name for themselves as remixers par extraordinaire, via Elton's Are You Ready for Love?, Dido's Thank You and NERD's Lapdance. Now, in true Neptunes style, they've gone and made their own album, a consistent enough blend of modern electronic soul which nods its head knowingly in the direction of BEF (Martyn Ware even makes a guest appearance), Mantronix, Eurythmics and Prince. Mainman Anu Pillai produces, programmes and writes the tunes; Tamara Barnett-Herrin, Cabba and Nick DeCosemo share vocal duties, with guest slots from Lateef and Bounty Killer. Electromagnetic, Eeeeaaooww and Losing My Control are made for meccanik dancing, while Easy and What Are You Waiting For (co-written with Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody) are slinky, seductive slowies.
www.freeformfive.com
Kevin Courtney

THE MONKS OF GLENSTAL ABBEY
Biscantorat - Sound of the Spirit Hummingbird Records
**

There has already been some insistence that the familiar voice we hear gliding through the second hymn of Biscantorat belongs to the Holy Spirit. If so, He has modestly left his name from the credits. Marie-Bernadette O'Connor, aka Mother Bernadette Mary, aka Sinead O'Connor, has not, however. Although the one-time pope-shredder's graceful presence lends this ceremony of Latin prayers, medieval Christmas carols and poetic sermons some lighter cadences, there is something unusually thin about the choral alleluias. With the monks rather muted behind guests O'Connor and Nóirín Ní Riain, their Gregorian chants lack gravitas, making the carols seem no more meaningful than Disney alternatives. There is something nicely quaint about delivering spiritual uplift to the secular music store in time for Christmas. But this, one feels, is hardly the time nor the place. www.glenstal.org 
Peter Crawley