CD Reviews

This week we review Little Bushman, Alicia Keys, The Eels, Massive Attack, and The Crazy Heart Soundtrack.

 

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> Little Bushman. Live in concert with the NZSO. Little Bushman.
4 stars (out of 5)

Multi-instramentalist Warren Maxwell is the face of Little Bushman, but in this gig with the NZSO he is upstaged by two of his bandmates.

Ric Cranson is a drumming behemoth, bashing his way into Ginger Baker country, while Joe Callwood's guitar playing is incendiary.

It sure doesn't sound like a concerto for group and orchestra, more like a big jam where the finely-dressed contingent are dragged along for the ride.

The power of the symphony adds an awesome breadth to some great songs; it's a pity they did not have more scope to engage in some interplay with the band.

Single download: Jimi
For those who like: Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Ben Harper

- Mark Orton

 

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> Alicia Keys. The Element of Freedom. J Records.
3 stars (out of 5)

2001 seems a lifetime ago for former Grammy gobbler Alicia Keys.

While persisting with the virtuosity and street-smart hip-hop production that took Songs in A Minor to coffee tables the world over, her fourth album sees little to make fellow nu-soul vixens Beyonce and Mary J. Blige quiver in their Manolo Blahniks.

Certainly, The Element of Freedom is rife with sultry vocal turns, and, in the case of obvious highlight Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart, a song which resembles Prince performing I Will Survive - it's a pity that most of its other tracks lack such spark.

Single download: Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart
For those who like: Beyonce, Mary J.Blige

- John Hayden

 

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> The Eels. End Times. Shock.
3 stars (out of 5)

The eighth studio album from the Los Angeles-based ensemble, centred on Mark Everett, aka E, follows hard on the heels of last year's vibrant Hombre Lobo.

However, where its predecessor rejoiced in 12 songs about desire, End Times deals with a break-up (divorce, in fact).

Therefore, the music is as downcast as its lyricist, who opines, "I don't need any more misery/to teach me what I should be".

Despite the subject matter, some of the 14 songs manage to rise above the shoe-gazing, Mansions of Los Feliz providing a delicate lilt and Unhinged a defiant riposte.

Single download: On My Feet
For those who like: The Go Betweens, Frank Black

- Shane Gilchrist

 

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> Massive Attack. Heligoland. Virgin.
4 stars (out of 5)

For 20-odd years, Bristol's "Barbarians of Trip-Hop" have paired some of the most innovative British vocal stylists with their distinctive brand of chilled cinematic electro-scapes.

The sound might not be easy to describe, but even when pillaging other artists, the tunes almost always have that Massive Attack-ness.

Much expectation has surrounded the first album since Mezzanine. What with Martina-Topley Bird giving an amazing Maxinquaye flashback, and Elbow front-man Guy Carvey vying with Damon Alban for best individual performance, it's clear any bad blood between 3D and Daddy G has well and truly been swabbed up.

Single download: Rush Minute
For Those Who Like: Unkle, Tricky, Elbow, Portishead

- Mark Orton

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> Various artists. Crazy Heart (soundtrack). New West Records.
4 stars (out of 5)

It might come as a surprise to some but Jeff Bridges, the country-singing lead in the recently released film Crazy Heart, has more than a passing interest in the genre.

Having released his debut album in 2000, he provides vocals to half a dozen tracks on this T Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack.

Bridges is joined by a few others, including Buck Owens and rising star Ryan Bingham, in a collection that ranges from The Louvin Brothers' porch-song version of My Baby's Gone to the ragged blues of Lightning Hopkins' Once A Gambler and a few dusty places in between.

Single download: If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt)
For those who like: Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard

- Shane Gilchrist

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