SOUND JUDGEMENT
THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED
TYPHOONS ROYAL BLOOD HHHH
H ROYAL Blood have undergone something of a radical transformation since the release of 2017’s How Did We Get So Dark? Put it down to the global pandemic, bass-wielding frontman Mike Kerr going sober or the influence of friend-cum-producer Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age. Whatever it was, it works.
The Brighton duo have shifted their heavy rock sound towards something redolent of the Bee Gees’ high camp, all while retaining the bite of Led Zeppelin.
Throw in huge, bustling synth lines that wouldn’t look out of place on a Daft Punk album and overprocessed drums that scream 80s melodrama and the formula is complete.
This is 11 tracks of gorgeous, inventive rock and roll, dusted with handclaps and infectious choruses.
CORAL ISLAND THE CORAL HHHH
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A concept double album about an imaginary holiday resort with an accompanying book – it’s not what I was expecting from The Coral.
But the band, from the small Merseyside seaside town Hoylake, have been inspired by 1960s concept albums by The Kinks and Small
Faces and have delivered in style.
It is divided into two parts, and Welcome to Coral Island opens with a spoken word introduction by Ian Murray, the 85-year-old grandfather of singer and guitarist James Skelly and drummer Ian Skelly.
The album is influenced by 1950s crooners as well as 1960s bands, a move that works well with the character-based songs on The Ghost Of Coral Island, depicting the off-season when the holidaymakers have gone.
While there are 24 tracks, several are short, spoken word interludes by Ian Murray (aka The Great Muriarty) and the album never feels selfindulgent.
DISCOVERY:
LIVE IN RIO 1994 PET SHOP BOYS
HHHH H THIS Rio concert was previously only available on VHS cassette but now fans can enjoy two CDs and a DVD of the band’s first energetic performance in Brazil and the crowd’s delighted reaction.
There is a joyous version of I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing, a lively Paninaro and a noisy crowd singalong to Always On My Mind. There’s even a cover of Blur’s Girls And Boys.
Turn it up loud, sing along and jump around.