STACK NZ Sep #66

MUSIC

REVIEWS

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Also Spinning Jimmy Barnes Best Of The Soul Years

Jimmy Barnes is an Australian instituion whose career as a recording artist and live performer has continued unabated since we first discovered him in Cold Chisel in the mid-seventies. His

latest release – 16 soul/R&B classics culled from three albums he's released over the past 25 years – cements his position as one of music's great vocal interpreters. Chain of Fools , Hold On, I'm Coming and River Deep Mountain High are among many standouts, along with two new recordings: Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour and Mustang Sally . Billy Pinnell Dave Rawlings Machine Nashville Obsolete In Dave Rawlings Machine, Rawlings steps forward to take the lead while still supported by long-time musical companion Gillian Welch. Having recorded, played and written with Welch for near on 20 years, the pair are a songwriting force keeping country music real and traditionally true. The second album from the Machine features seven new songs recorded on analogue tape at Woodland Sound Studios (Nashville), produced by Rawlings and featuring the likes of Willie Watson on vocals/guitars and Punch Brother Paul Kowert on bass. Great songs and impeccable, distinctive Rawlings guitar; it doesn’t get much better than this.

David Gilmour Rattle That Lock

David Gilmour’s last solo album, On an Island , was released nine years ago. After an extended hiatus, the guitarist returned to the studio last year to work on what was purportedly Pink Floyd’s last album, The Endless River , a record compiled in most part from music the band recorded during the Division

Bell sessions. This was clearly the creative impetus Gilmour needed, and a year later he delivered his fourth solo project. His latest long player, Rattle That Lock , is a collection of ten tracks themed around the duration of a single day. Opener 5am piles Gilmour’s trademark delay into an emotive entrée, while the infectious groove of the title track lifts the tempo before the searching beauty of A Boat Lies Waiting drifts back into bewitching ambience. Dancing Night in Front of Me is The Kinks’ village English, and In Any Tongue and Today are quintessential Pink Floyd. Outside of the jazz-infused The Girl in the Yellow Dress , Gilmour rarely ventures past the ground he is most familiar with, but that is by no means a bad thing. Paul Jones

Denise Hylands Girl Band Holding Hands With James

Here's how you subvert expectation: Call yourself Girl Band and give your debut album a cute title like Holding Hands With James... then deliver atonal noisecore, aggressive thrash and declamatory

lyrics over lo-fi sonics. This all-male Dublin four-piece might sound like they have emerged in the post-punks days alongside The Fall, Chrome, Pere Ubu and clank'n'grind experimentalists, but here they are bringing their challenging but always surprising sound to the 21st century. Some still might not be ready for these nine scouring non-pop pieces in 39 bruising minutes, but they are impossible to ignore. Graham Reid Ghost Meliora

A band’s music often takes a backseat when the image that surrounds them becomes the focal point. Ghost intrigued many when they first appeared in 2008: the masks, cryptic interviews and the manner in which their music mirrored '60s/'70s proto-metal gave them a lot of attention. They struck hard with Opus Eponymous , but the follow

up Infestissumam didn’t deliver the knockout punch. Meliora offers more riffs, and the harder approach is welcomed. It may not be their definitive offering, but Ghost is getting close. Meliora will satisfy the faithful and should silence any doubters. Simon Lukic Buddy Guy Born to Play Guitar powerful collection of blues/rock songs. The autobiographical title track, Flesh and Bone , is a dedication to B.B. King, on which he's joined by Van Morrison; and the poignant, acoustic Come Back Muddy is a tribute to Muddy Waters, the man who shaped Guy's career. Both offer examples of Guy's passionate, energetic guitar style. Other guests include harmonica virtuoso Kim Wilson and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons. Billy Pinnell Kurt Vile B'lieve I'm Goin’ Down Vile's previous Walkin' on a Pretty Daze captured an audience for its benign tripped-out vibe and although this isn't as strong, he should consolidate his fanbase with these slightly ambling, sometimes downbeat songs which also have flashes of humour (check Dust Bunnies ) and their accomplished diversity. He further explores finger-picking folk (the drawling That's Life Tho , Stand Inside ), faux-country ( I'm An Outlaw ) and off-kilter ballads ( Life Like This ). The weariness here means this won't grip immediately, but as he says on Wild Imagination − which sounds like a demo − “Give it some time.“ Graham Reid In his eightieth year, guitarist/singer Buddy Guy − a prime influence on countless rock players, notably Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and particularly Jimmy Page − pays homage to his inspirations on this

Delaney Davidson Lucky Guy

Parkway Drive Ire

Truthfully, Parkway Drive can do no wrong at this stage. It feels like the Byron Bay boys have come to this realisation after what can only be described as a steady and exponential incline over the past decade; thus, they’ve deliberately decided to push a few buttons on their fifth release. “Whenever there was gamble to take, we took the biggest one we could,” confirms frontman Winston McCall, and boy is he true to his word. The singing, rapping, piano and string sections will catch some fans off guard, and the romantic Spanish guitar at the album’s close? No one saw that coming. Emily Kelly

Although he's picked up country music awards, there's always been blues and '50s outsider-pop in Davidson's catalogue. They come through on this stripped-back, direct and often abrasive album that is strapped together by a taut trio and Davidson's compelling voice. There are guitars strung with barbed wire ( Eastbound ), stomping pop ( Something's Wrong , the Beatlesque Tell It To You ) and sneering rock’n’roll delinquency (the moody You Don't Want Me Around and Five Bucks ), while the spirit of Chess and Alligator blues is channeled through the gritty cover of Dorsey Dixon's country classic Wreck on the Highway and the Bo Diddley-cum-glam of Black Bo . Graham Reid

SEPTEMBER 2015

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