SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

NENEH CHERRY

BROKEN POLITICS ★★★★★ CO-CREATED with Four Tet, also known as Kieran Hebden, Broken Politics is a poetic acknowledgement of humanity’s compassion deficit, and a trip down a memory lane of Dax hair grease and treasured vinyl.

Opener Fallen Leaves sets the tone, its downcast lyric lifted by woody snares and harp into the song of someone alive and resolute. Kong sees the punishingly intense hi-hats of dub join classical instrumentation to create a Bjork-like soundscape, while Cherry combines matters personal with those more global to great effect. Her vocal is gentle and rhymes devastating.

REM

REM AT THE BBC ★★★★★ REM fans are getting a wealth of material with REM at the BBC, the CD incorporates eight expansive discs of live material from 1984 to 2004.

There are some real treats in there – not least a rollicking What’s The Frequency, Kenneth? from Milton Keynes in 1995 and a spine-tingling E-Bow the Letter, sung with Thom Yorke at a 2004 show in London’s St James’ Church. And tinny and echoey as the recording might be, it’s hard not to get a rush of heady excitement at hearing Radio Free Europe as it would have been heard in a sweaty Rock City in Nottingham in 1984.

JOHN GRANT

LOVE IS MAGIC ★★★★★ SINCE finding fame with his sumptuous solo debut Queen Of Denmark, Grant has wandered ever further from the beaten track and the bizarre string of non-sequiturs which kicks off Metamorphosis sets a suitable tone here.

Electronic stylings are increasingly prominent but the title track and Is He Strange showcase his voice and his knack for a simple, beautiful tune. Touch And Go is a supportive ode to transgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning, while it is fair to say Donald Trump does not receive the same understanding on an unprintably-titled song directed at him. The disco flourishes on He’s Got His Mother’s Hips and Diet Gum’s twisted spoken word show his ongoing evolution.