SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

JAKE SHEARS – JAKE SHEARS HHHHH

AS Scissor Sisters’ frontman, Jake Shears oozed charisma, cheeky humour and sexual energy and the band’s debut album was the UK’s biggest-selling of 2004. But since the band announced an indefinite hiatus in 2012, we haven’t heard much of that famous falsetto.

This is a continuation of the Scissor Sisters sound with more grit and a little less polish, along with songs reminiscent of 1980s soundtracks. There’s plenty of sass in the strutting Big Bushy Mustache and the bawdy S.O.B. will get you twirling you around a pole. The influences of Southern soul, Elton John and disco shine through on Shears’s debut.

IL DIVO – TIMELESS HHHHH

ADOPTING the “if it ain’t broke...” approach, the formula is largely the same as their previous efforts, where they take previously recorded songs and transform them into something apt for a Disney film soundtrack from the 1990s.

One of the highlights is easily Hola, their Spanish-language take on Adele’s Hello. Their epic version of Elvis Presley’s Love Me Tender will give you chills.

It’s difficult to find much to dislike – Il Divo have hand-picked some wonderful songs to cover, including Robbie Williams’ Angels, sung in Spanish, John Legend’s All Of Me, and Toi Et Moi, a French version of The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand. Their faultless vocals and the epic production bring this album to life.

MILES KANE – COUP DE GRACE HHHHH

“GIVE me something for the guillotine” snarls indie rock singer-songwriter Miles Kane in the cutting opening line of his first album for five years.

The Birkenhead musician comes out swinging with Too Little Too Late, an urgent burst of punk rock. On T-Rex-infused Cry On My Guitar, Kane’s Bolan-esque howls pierce a slinky bassline and 12-bar blues guitar.

Kane’s sultry warble at times resembles his Last Shadow Puppets bandmate Alex Turner, particularly on the title track. Coupled with frenzied riffs on tracks like Something To Rely On this can lead, perhaps unfairly, to comparisons with early Arctic Monkeys.