Gary Moore: "Dark Days In Paradise" (EMI)
Dial a track code: 1971
Old rockers never die of embarrassment - they just keep on wearing those shades and posing with scantily clad supermodels on their album sleeves. After a few years exploring the wilderness of the blues, Gary Moore returns to rock's highway, cranks his guitar into overdrive, puts the soft top down and starts cruising.
The album is a mishmash of contemporary pop styles, held together by Moore's wailing axe solos and unerring ear for radio friendly production.
One Good Reason is Thunderclap Newman meets Thin Lizzy, while One Fine Day is a bright and breezy chunk of Americana. Gaz gets on the drum `n' bass bandwagon with Always There For You, driving it straight into the soft shoulder, but the mawkish, overlong Like Angels just makes you fall asleep at the wheel.
Michael Jackson: "Blood On The Dance Floor - HIStory In The Mix" (Epic)
Dial a track code: 2081
Wacko seems to be on a bit of a recycling kick lately - the HIStory album combined a CD of new songs with a collection of greatest hits, and Blood On The Dance Floor offers remixed versions of songs like Stranger In Moscow and You Are Not Alone, along with fresh dance floor fodder like Superfly Sister and Ghosts. Michael is in his usual exuberant mood, throwing in some Thrillertype schlock on Is It Scary? along with some addled, anti-drug messages on Morphine. The rest you know: Scream, Earth Song and 2 Bad are rejigged by David Morales, Frankie Knuckles and Todd Terry, making the whole thing very floor friendly.
Tony Bennett: "Tony Bennett On Holiday" (Columbia) Dial a track code: 2191
A defining feature of Tony Bennett's career is that he, unlike Sinatra, always preferred to focus on the sunny side of the street, to cull a title from one of his recordings. Not surprisingly, therefore, in this tribute to one of his rolemodels and mentors, Billie Holiday, he highlights her relatively joyful recordings, such as All Of Me and Laughing At Life. In such tracks he's backed by the superb Ralph Sharon Trio, which seems to breathe as naturally inside a Holiday song as Bennett does. That said, the singer doesn't shy away from Billie's blues and also includes Food Morning Heartache. Solitude and Willow Weep For Me. And yet the essential difference between Bennett and Holiday is crystallised in their simulated duet, God Bless The Child. He's smiling, she's laden down with irony and tears. A fascinating album.
