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Willie Nelson
and Merle Haggerd
Django and Jimmie
Willie Nelson joins up with old mate
Merle Haggard to bring us a duet
collaboration of 14 new recordings,
featuring new songs and a couple
of classics. Aging country outlaws
Nelson (aged 82) and Haggard (78)
are still doing it better than ever,
with their mischievous brashness
in songs like
It’s All Going to Pot
(see the video) and
The Only Man
Wilder Than Me
. They pay tribute to
each other, to folks who’ve inspired
them – including jazz guitarist Django
Reinhardt and country legend Jimmie
Rogers – and one for an old friend in
Missing Ol’ Johnny Cash
. On their
own they are fantastic but put them
together and it’s pure country gold.
(
Sony Music) Denise Hylands
Leonard Cohen
Can't Forget
At 80, Leonard Cohen is
as prolific as he's ever
been, releasing his third
album in seven months. Culled
from live performances and
soundchecks recorded during
his recent world tour, his latest
album includes back catalogue
classics
I Can't Forget, Joan
of Arc, Night Comes On
, new
compositions and two covers:
Choices
previously recorded
by George Jones, and
La
Manic
written by Canadian
poet Georges Dor. The icon's
understated, versatile band
complement ever-present Cohen
themes of eroticism and self-
parody – the two new songs that
chronicle his declining sexual
capabilities are hilarious.
(Sony) Billy Pinnell
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Franz Ferdinand/Sparks
FFS
At the very least, the new collaboration between Franz
Ferdinand and veteran oddballs Sparks reminds us that
most pop music isn’t nearly as funny (or self-aware)
as it should be. But wait, there’s more – much more.
These dozen songs are bouncy, catchy, sturdy, and
yes, hilarious, teeming with cheeky barbs. Subversive
sex comedy is alive and well on the dry-witted
Police
Encounters
(“I’ve got eyes for the policeman’s wife”) and
The Man Without a
Tan
, while
Johnny Delusional
and
The Power Couple
play like highlights from
a Devo-penned stage musical. Yet this isn’t some throwaway joke, and FFS
rival some of the best output of their component bands. The songs may feel
at times like Hall & Oates hits bent through a funhouse mirror, but that’s only
because it’s so rare to hear such infectious, finely-crafted pop with such a
mischievous heart. FFS mock their own supergroup premise on
Collaborations
Don’t Work
, have fun with wordplay on
Call Girl
, and find the perfect closing
message in
Piss Off
. Fans of Franz Ferdinand’s straighter material may be taken
aback by all the silliness, but anyone who knows and loves Sparks should relish
this instant cult classic.
(EMI/Universal) DougWallen
AlbumsThat Should Live in Every Collection
Big Brother and the Holding
Company
Cheap Thrills
Although wrapped in a Robert Crumb cover
locating it in San Fran's '60s counter-culture era,
this music – by a rough-edged but enormously
underrated band, and go-for-broke singer Janis
Joplin – proved timeless. A mix of gutsy soul-
blues (
Combination of the Two
, standouts
Piece
of my Heart
and
Ball and Chain
), rock (
I Need a
Man
), bar room balladry (Joplin's earthy
Turtle
Blues
channelling Bessie Smith), and a rethought
standard in
Summertime,
its passionate intensity
was almost scary. Joplin gave her all, and too
much. Within two years she was gone.
Cobain: Montage
of Heck (DVD)
Brett Morgen’s strength as a filmmaker
lies in imbuing the cinematic language of
his documentaries with the aesthetics of
his subjects. His Robert Evans study
The
Kid Stays in the Picture
creatively utilised
classic Hollywood archives to tell the
legendary producer’s story, and his Rolling
Stones project
Crossfire Hurricane
looked
grimy, murky and often thrilling, just like
the band.
The fragile, strange and confronting
inner world of late Nirvana frontman
Kurt Cobain is thus perfect in his hands;
Cobain’s journals literally become a living
text – via animation of scrawled lines
and drawings – and archival footage
drawn from his earliest years on 8mm
film complements the approach and
makes
Montage...
achingly intimate.
Morgen doesn’t shy away from numerous
uncomfortable story elements, chiefly
drug use and Cobain’s obviously tragic
end; but the tone is one of curiosity, of
gentle wonder at his subject’s obvious
intelligence, overt
sensitivity and freakish
talent. There are many
potential characters in
this story, but Morgen
sticks to fundamentals
– Kurt’s mother
Wendy, Nirvana bassist
Krist Novoselic, and his widow Courtney
Love. His daughter Frances Bean appears
as an infant via the archives, but her
presence looms largest as Executive
Producer – screeds of this very private
family material have been unseen until
now. It won’t make you nostalgic or angry,
but it reminds us how easily damaged
human beings can be, and the cathartic
nature of good art.
Montage of Heck
is unflinching and powerful – just like
Nirvana.
JonathanAlley
The Temptations
Psychedelic Shack
Although The Temptations were mostly known
as a classic '60s Motown singles band, this
unusual album saw them abandon Motown soul
for tougher psychedelic rock, funk, samples and
a tripped-out vibe. You'd be mistaken for thinking
you'd accidentally put on Sly and the Family Stone.
Ali Farka Toure/Toumani
Diabate
Ali and Toumani
Recorded shortly before the great Mali guitarist
Toure's 2005 death, this album found him with
his old sparring partner Diabate (playing kora) on
duets where musical ideas flowed effortlessly
between them. Music to take you out of yourself.