Latest CD releases reviewed
THE VIRGIN PRUNES
Over the Rainbow/The Moon Looked Down and Laughed/ If I Die, I Die/A New Form of Beauty Mute
While it's a reasonably safe bet to state that there won't be too many people queuing up for this raft of Virgin Prunes reissues, it would equally be a safe bet to claim that the band - U2's vile twin, fronted by Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?-era Bette Davis and Joan Crawford drama queens Gavin Friday and Guggi Rowan - have always been underrated. Yes, their synthesis of aural scrawls (too many chalk-on-blackboard moments to list) and compelling primal, tribal scare tactics might not be to everyone's tastes, but the band's deliberately provocative, worryingly surreal Situationist pranks were and remain quite unique in the Irish rock canon. Removed from their virtually internecine relationship with U2, The Virgin Prunes were, at the very least, the sharp nail that wilfully burst the bubbles of complacency and facsimile of late '70s/early '80s Irish rock. It is to the country's artistic shame that no one ever followed - or even dared to follow - their lead.
www.virginprunes.com - Tony Clayton-Lea
MARILYN MANSON
Lest We Forget - The Best Of Interscope
The biggest problem with Marilyn Manson is that the conceit has always been so much better than the music. The idea of taking overblown S&M theatrics, hard rock, witty and socially wry lyrics, a touch of satanism and sex, on paper at least, seems to be the perfect brew. But with Marilyn it falls down because he has never written a truly great album or, indeed, song. All the peripheral stuff just buoys the central failing. It's why this greatest hits is loaded with covers - his comeback assault is a lame take on Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus - and why his canon consists mostly of little better than average industrial goth. There are some good moments: Disposable Teens, his broadside at American society failing its youth, and The Fight Song, the Blur-influenced rebuttal at being blamed for the Columbine massacre, stand up. But they're not enough to make him one of the great songwriters. But it's enough that Manson is around, a very tall, freaky presence and a brilliant social irritant, even though, despite the protestations of the mainstream press, he is about as frightening as a bowl of jelly. www. marilynmanson.net - Paul McNamee
Q
Strange Vibe
Why wear your heart on your sleeve when you can strap it to a billboard and wander, wailing and weeping, through the traffic? This is the rhetorical teaser posed by Q, the artist formerly known as Dubliner Colm Quearney. Dripping with queasy earnestness, Quearney's new alias recalls Jeff Buckley, Damien Rice and - shudder - Paddy Casey at their most sentimentally gushing. The pity is that when Q occasionally puts a lid on his romanticism, he exhibits a true pop instinct, elegantly fusing gospel, indie and country-tinged FM rock. Too often, alas, he settles for the role of simpering innocent, reminding you why you gave up on David Gray in the first place. And shouldn't a record called Body Electric contain at least one synth-pop workout? A fine album floundering in dewy-eyed goo.
www.colmquearney.com - Ed Power
KATELL KEINEG
High July Megaphone Music
Katell Keineg's weakness for songs full of foreboding has always been countered by her possession of one of the most sublime pair of vocal cords in the business: countering titanic depths with a buoyant effervescence that would shore up the spirits of the most terminally glum. High July has been long overdue, since 1997's Jet. Its strengths are scattered like gunshot throughout, from deliciously anthemic opener What's the Only Thing Worse Than The End of Time? to the skeletal fragility of the closing Te Recuerdo Victor Jara. That magnificent, cavernous voice soars and dips with precision, occasionally dipping towards Hades, encouraged by a loose hand on production. But one suspects it's through these air pockets that this collection will breathe longest life.
www.katellkeineg.com - Siobhán Long
JESSIE & LAYLA
Rooster Records
Siblings Jessie and Layla Collins thankfully buck the trend of young and attractive female units who are apparently content to allow people who think they know better to guide their career and direct their music. And while the music contained here isn't all too far removed from the manufactured pop they clearly wish to steer clear of, at least it's the kind of sunny/hippy West Coast music that comes with a clean conscience, a beating heart and a decent tune. The major criticism is that some songs simply aren't as catchy as others; the dreariness of tracks such as High and Low and Ground, however, is easily superseded by bright little psychedelic nuggets such as Nearly Over Now, Move On, So Long and Freezin' Up. A pity, then, that erratic quality control occasionally stymies what is quite a thorough and highly efficient début from the Mamas & Papas & Sisters. www.jessie&layla.com - Tony Clayton-Lea
DURAN DURAN
Epic
***
It's shaping up to be the comeback of the year. For the first time in 19 years, the original Duran Duran lineup - Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor - are together again, firing on all cylinders, and finding a whole new generation of screaming teen fans and celebrity admirers. They've gotten a lifetime achievement award at the Brits, are doing the theme music for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, and they still look glamorous. Just to seal their resurgence, they've put together the poppiest album since Scissor Sisters' début, packed with quintessential Durannie tunes and guaranteed to get the Sloane Rangers skanking around their Louis Vuitton handbags. Starting with the single, (Reach Up For The) Sunrise, and continuing through the catchy, kitschy Want You More, What Happens Tomorrow, Bedroom Toys, Taste the Summer and One of Those Days, Astronaut swings confidently from the chandeliers, and swashbuckles shamelessly like a cheeky old dandy who knows he's still got the moves. Buy this for your girlfriend now - and enjoy the guilty pleasure. - Kevin Courtney
