SOUND JUDGEMENT

The latest album releases reviewed

KEYS ALICIA KEYS HHHHI

On her eighth album, Alicia Keys delivers some of her most inventive material in years.

Keys is a fantastic idea: It is two albums, Originals and Unlocked.

The former is a suite of piano-led songs that show off her often forgotten virtuosity, while the second side sees her remixing her own tracks like a hip hop producer.

On side one, the propulsive grooves of tracks like Best of Me and Billions are juxtaposed pleasingly with deep cuts like the atmospheric, swaggering Nat King Cole.

Side two, meanwhile, is more titillating, kicking off with a house music remix of Only You that flips the original on its head, while the alternative version of Love When You Call My Name introduces a classic R&B feel to proceedings.

If this album proves anything, it’s that it is possible to be both clever and entertaining.

THE ATLAS UNDERGROUND FLOOD TOM MORELLO HHHII

Tom Morello is undoubtedly a legend of rock.

The Atlas Underground Flood functions as a sequel to October’s The Atlas Underground Fire and carries the torch of its predecessor while also exploring new avenues. It is a mish-mash of genres, with Morello taking a back seat and working more as a facilitator than director.

But viewed as a compilation of experiments rather than an album, this is a success.

BARN NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE HHHII

Recorded with his long-time backing band Crazy Horse in a 19th-century barn perched high up in the Rockies, this is Neil Young and co in full rustic mode.

The music is loose, sometimes even slapdash, but delivered with the vital energy of a group of 70-somethings back at what they do best.

Barn is perhaps the most straightforward of Young’s recent work.

It’s stirring, if unadventurous, stuff.