CD reviews

HARRY STYLES Harry Styles

YOU know what it’s like when you go to order at a restaurant with 80 items on the menu — the food is only going to be so-so. Trying to be everything to everyone is a bad idea, which Harry Styles proves on his One Direction hiatus solo album. Pick any song at random here and it will sound a lot like a song you’ve heard someone else perform before: Supertramp, John Mayer, Beck, Van Halen. Styles has pilfered from some great acts, but it still feels like pilfering. Perhaps strangely, some of the songs are delivered with a level of unmatched, youthful confidence that will trick your ears. For a second you might think: “Hey, that’s catchy. This young dude, minus the boy band past, could be playing at Coachella next year.” But then you realise Meet Me in the Hallway is a rip-off of the Eagles and Pink Floyd and a bunch of classic British rock. Then you frown.

Kiwi is another example of the “What are we doing here?” face I kept pulling while listening to this album. The blistering guitar solo? I mean, c’mon. Do 1D’s fans want this? It’s not the end of the world when a young singer with young fans has songs that sound like something history. It’s fine. But this is a solo album, this was his first chance to let people learn a little about who Harry is away from the manufactured pop. Unfortunately there is nothing to learn from his lyrics. They are cliches and cliches only. Harry Styles was No.1 on the ARIA album charts at the time of writing. That is just a fact.

LINKIN PARK One More Light

LINKIN Park, Incubus, Bush, Papa Roach … it’s crazy to see each of these retro bands is back with new material in 2017. Good on them for having a crack instead of just cashing festival cheques to play their ’90s hits. Personally, I never paid LP a lot of attention. Aware of their hits? Yes. An expert on their deepest album cuts? That would be a no. And yet I know enough to be able to say this record is a departure from what they are best known for, while not being totally outside the boundaries of an act built on cross-pollinating music genres.

One More Light seems, dare I say the word, pop. As in 2017 electro-pop. That’s a long way from the emotional, aggro, rap-rock of their past. They also sound pretty happy and upbeat. What’s up with that? The song with Stormzy and Pusha T is in the only one vaguely in the ballpark of their early material. And the heartfelt confessions on this album work well because the guys can clearly write a hook ( Sorry for Now and Halfway Right).