Classic cuts by Blondie
There is also music from former indie rocker Johnny Lloyd and rapper KSI
SILVERTWIN — SILVERTWIN
LONDON band Silvertwin mined the best soft rock of the ’70s and ’80s for their selftitled debut album — with great results.
Like the perfect soundtrack to a sunny drive down a Californian highway, songs like The Night Is Ours and Ploy, which opens the album, combine expansive songwriting with quintessentially British lyricism.
Sir Paul McCartney’s Wings, Supertramp and Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra are obvious touchstones on the 10-track effort, but the band also draw on less enduring figures such as Scottish folk-rocker Al Stewart. Masterminded by songwriter Isaac Shalam and recorded at Electro-Vox Recording Studios in Los Angeles, piano and three-part harmonies take centre stage.
Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado brings a deft touch to production, making the band’s retro-leaning sound feel fresh and modern.
Silvertwin’s debut is warm, nostalgic and downright fun.
7/10
(Review by Alex Green)
STEPHEN FRETWELL — BUSY GUY
APPROACHING 15 years ago, Stephen Fretwell put down the guitar to become a stay-at-home dad to his two sons in Brighton.
The Scunthorpe-raised musician was rising fast, having supported the likes of Oasis and Travis, but instead opted for a quiet family life, redoing his A-levels and working at a Wetherspoons pub.
Now, nearing 40 years of age, he has decided to step back into the spotlight with his third album, the sardonically titled Busy Guy — one of the best records of 2021 so far.
When he headed into Soho’s Dean Street Studios with producer and Speedy Wunderground label boss Dan Carey, the music simply came tumbling out.
“I was so fired up, I just rattled off the songs,” he said recently of the sessions.
Busy Guy manages to combine both the world-weary longing of middle-age and the pent-up musicianship of a man too long away from his guitar.
It sounds like a debut album in all its raw creativity.
If the world is a fair place, it will elevate Stephen Fretwell from cult figure to household name.
9/10
(Review by Alex Green)
BLONDIE — VIVIR EN LA HABANA
LIVE music has been mostly absent from our lives. Instead, live albums have offered much-needed connection to the communal experience that is a rock concert. In that respect, Vivir En La Habana, which documents Blondie’s 2019 trip to the Cuban capital as part of a cultural exchange, fits the bill nicely. The six-track EP plus its accompanying film catches the band in fine form, bolstered by Cuban vocalists, percussionists and horn players. Debbie Harry’s sometimes temperamental voice holds up and excels on more melodic tracks such as The Tide Is High, where she is joined by members of veteran Cuban rockers Sintesis.
Classic cuts such as Heart Of Glass and Rapture sit alongside newer material like the Spanishlanguage Wipe Off My Sweat.
Harry’s back and forths with an adoring audience help feed the sense of intimacy.
It’s transportative and timely stuff. A short, sharp and much needed hit.
7/10
(Review by Alex Green)
VINCE STAPLES — VINCE STAPLES
VINCE Staples always does things his own way, a multi-talented rapper who uses his real name, and is planning a Netflix show, two podcasts and a graphic novel for this year.
But first comes his fourth album, with 10 tracks clocking in at less than 22 minutes, and self-titled as he’s moved away from his previous cryptic lyrics and is opening up about his life.
He’s achieved a devoted following despite never having a major hit.
He seldom repeats himself and on this album he leans heavily on G-funk, the laid-back early ’90s rap genre pioneered by the likes of Snoop Dog and Warren G, both also from Long Beach, making it ideal for summer listening. His masterpiece is still to come, perhaps with another full-length album, Ramona Park Broke My Heart, due next year, and while Staples could go anywhere from here, one thing is certain
— he’ll do it on his own terms.
7/10
(Review by Matthew George)
JOHNNY LLOYD — LA LA LA
SINCE parting ways with his band Tribes in 2013, Johnny Lloyd has looked across the Atlantic for inspiration.
Dylan, Springsteen and country music have loomed large over the former indie rocker.
His third album, La La La, comes after a busy period of soundtrack-writing on series such as Sex Education, Afterlife and comedy Frank Of Ireland (plus his partner Billie Piper’s big screen directorial debut, Rare Beasts).
Across the 14 songs on the record, Lloyd finds a happy medium, genrehopping between Americana, new wave and summery campfire rock while maintaining a consistent sound.
Moments On Earth charts his journey from childhood, to sipping on his first beer and the birth of his daughter Tallulah with Piper in 2019 (“Welcome to Earth, my dear,” he sings). Eight years on from leaving Tribes behind, Lloyd has found his sound. 8/10
(Review by Alex Green)