3 stars (out of 5)
Auckland-based guitarist Kara Gordon's debut album might offer a window into a world of prodigious talent, yet it could also be regarded as an opportunity missed.
Given this is a guy who graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music a decade ago, you might expect a greater depth of material than lashings of heavy rock, even if it is occasionally broken up by Hendrix-inspired blues (Tell Me Why) or flamenco-type acoustic flourishes (Grumpy Scottsman). Still, there is magic here, moments when Gordon tears off into a world of innovation (Inside Your Soul) and leaves the listener wishing for more.
Single download: Acid Man
For those who like: Van Halen
-Shane Gilchrist
4 stars (out of 5)
At 36 tracks, this double-disc compilation of four-on-the floor rockers, country-blues vamps and soul-stirring ballads from all-star goodtime boogie band Faces is a broad and satisfying trip through the band's catalogue. Often ranked as poorer cousin to the bands that bookended its five-year lifespan (Small Faces, the Jeff Beck Group, Rolling Stones), Faces created a generous handful of sublime tunes of its own despite, or because of, the well-documented carousing.
The band also drew from Rod Stewart some of his finest vocal performances and they're all here, along with three previously unreleased live cuts.
Single download: Stay With Me
For those who like: Rod Stewart, The Black Crowes
- Jeff Harford
3 stars (out of 5)
The third solo album from the ex-Dresden Dolls chanteuse is a product of modernity. Financed through crowd-funding site Kickstarter, and with a backing band cobbled together via web requests, Theatre is Evil transcends a sense of petulant self-indulgence via its accessibility. Mixing the spiky cabaret-punk of the Dolls with new-wave pop twitchiness and sumptuous balladry, the album eschews Palmer's renowned sense of experimentation, ushering the lovelorn honesty and delicate synth pulses of Grown Man Cry to the fore.
Likewise The Bed Song, whose lightness of touch enhances the album's emotional pull.
Single download: Grown Man Cry
For those who like: Tori Amos, Karen O, The Cure
- John Hayden
