SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

RICK ASTLEY – BEAUTIFUL LIFE ★★★☆☆

MASSIVE respect to any artist who restarts their career after having one of the biggest pop hits ever, especially with a brave foray into a different genre. Rick Astley might be best known for 1987 earworm Never Gonna Give You Up, but Beautiful Life is light years from that bastion of pop cheesiness.

Beautiful Life is a fair effort, comprising tracks penned by Astley and on which he plays all the instruments.

The title track is an uptempo pop piece that showcases his soulful vocals. But some of the songs – best described as an homage to midnoughties Take That – get a bit lost. I Need The Light is one of the catchiest tracks, though nowhere near his classic – but nothing ever will be. Rick’s come a long way, and where he is suits him fine, and fans will love this.

DIRTY PROJECTORS – LAMP LIT PROSE ★★★★☆

IN a musical landscape more crowded than ever, it’s challenging to create an original sound. But indie-eccentrics The Dirty Projectors, helmed by the ubiquitous David Longstreth, have produced another startlingly fresh collection that brims with invention.

Lamp Lit Prose is a curious blend of straightforward pop songwriting and left-field instruments and arrangements. The risk in such a bold album, is whether it experiments past the point of comfortable listening, but, thanks to Longstreth’s care and sensitivity, the elements balance neatly, with the potentially jarring instrumentation adding flair to quite traditionally written songs.

THE VAMPS – NIGHT AND DAY (DAY EDITION) ★★★★☆

THE Vamps are back with their second offering in a year. fans couldn’t get enough of Night Edition, the first part of their album Night & Day. Now 12 months later they’ve delivered the Day Edition. Packed with tracks, it’s a tall order to deliver an album that makes you want to listen to every song, but it’s undeniably catchy and you’ll be bopping along.

Guitarist James McVey says the two-part concept was to “give fans more songs over a short period of time”. The album opener Just My Type, for which they’ve just released a music video, is a surefire hit. A bit like the album.