SOUND JUDGEMENT IMAGINATION AND THE MISFIT KID LABRINTH

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

★★★★★ IT’S hard not to see Imagination And The Misfit Kid, the tale of a boy who sells his imagination to a businessman in exchange for success, as a cautionary tale based on Labrinth’s own journey.

The album is more experimental and more jam-packed with potential pop hits than his debut.

All For Us and Misbehaving recapture the glitchy swing of his 2011 hit Earthquake, with added futuristic soul, while Like A Movie repurposes a fizzing Bond-style beat for the dance floor.

Seven years in the wilderness have served Labrinth well. This is a comeback to be proud of.

THANKS FOR THE DANCE LEONARD COHEN

★★★★★

FOR this reflective posthumous offering, Leonard

Cohen’s son Adam worked with various musicians and artists, including Beck, Damien Rice and Javier Mas, to compile a typically sombre yet enchanting selection of songs.

Using material recorded before Leonard’s death, most tracks are minimalistic instrumentally, but this only raises the platform on which Cohen stands – a stark, isolated place – his poetry spilling forth like black treacle into surrounding quietude.

Happens To The Heart is tender and moving and It’s Torn is a beautiful piece. A parting tour de force from a much-loved mainstay of the music world.

IN THE SWING OF IT MARTIN AND SHIRLIE

★★★★★ IT’S easy to imagine 80s pop star duo Martin Kemp and Shirlie Holliman dressed in co-ordinated outfits while they perform duets such as Fly Me To The Moon, Ain’t That A Kick In The Head and It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.

Shirlie said the album, the first with her husband of 31 years, was “was one of the most wonderful things I have ever worked on” and the joy comes through in her clear, melodic voice.

The Way You Look Tonight and You Make Me Feel So Young are particular highlights of a frothy, likeable album with few surprises.