Joe Cocker: "Greatest Hits" (EMI)
Ol' Gravel-Guts's somewhat flaccid recent career was given a shot of Viagra by the success of The Full Monty, whose soundtrack features You Can Leave Your Hat On (OK, it's the Tom Jones version, but who's looking?). This Greatest Hits collection is a little overdressed, and when you peel away misguided cover versions of Summer In The City and Could You Be Loved, mid-tempo r & b anthems such as Unchain My Heart, and soft-soul ballads such as You Are So Beautiful, there's not much left to get your teeth into. Worse, Cocker's classic versions of Leon Russell's Delta Lady and The Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends have been replaced by newer and infinitely inferior readings. No hats-off to this collection, then.
Kevin Courtney.
Other Two: "Superhighways" (Polygram)
The Other Two are Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, drummer and keyboard player with New Order, and also a husband-and-wife musical team in their own right. Unlike, say, Everything But The Girl, Morris and Gilbert don't seem to have that commercial pop touch: Superhighways is a clunky juggernaut, lurching along on some jagged synthesiser lines and bumpy melodies, not so much a musical marriage as a dated attempt at electronic domestic blitz. Songs such as You Can Fly, One Last Kiss and New Horizons come on like Dubstar without the sparkle or St Etienne without the sex appeal - removed from the grand old institution of New Order, The Other Two are left sounding somewhat homely.
Kevin Courtney.
Andy Williams: "In The Lounge With . . . Andy Williams" (Columbia)
Who could resist this album? Andy crooning tunes like You Are My Sunshine with the added delight of Donny Osmond on backing vocals and providing the sleeve notes. In truth, I guess a lot of people could resist such a combination but, hey, as "lounge" music goes, few swingers or singers were quite as laid-back as our Andy. So lay back, slap on the hi-fi, mix a cocktail and hum along with Music To Watch Girls Byand Can't Take My Eyes Off You and even the maddening Happy Heart. A kitsch classic.
Joe Jackson.
