JOSS STONE - The Soul Sessions

Before I began to rant, let me just say this is one of the finest soul albums I have heard in years, knocking India Arie, Angie Stone etc into a fabulously talented cocked hat. Granted, Ms Stone doesn't write her own material, but when that voice lets go, the world becomes, temporarily, a better place.

Most of this record was produced by the legendary Betty Wright. Yes, the Betty Wright. Who also adds backing vocals alongside the afore-mentioned Ms Stone. ?uestlove from the Roots pops in to produce one track. Scanning the sleevenotes shows performances from, amongst others, jazz legend Cindy Blackman, Willie "Beaver" Hale, who has played alongside Aretha Franklin, Timmy Thomas (also here), Latimore (also here), Gwen McCrae, and, naturally, Betty Wright.

She takes on Carla Thomas' "I've Fallen in Love With You" and Aretha Franklin's "All the King's Horses," not to mention John Ellison's nugget "Some Kind of Wonderful," and there's even a stunningly soulful take on the White Stripes "Fell in Love With a Boy". And just wait until you hear her version of the Isley Brothers' "For the Love of You. Awesome. So where's the rant?

Well this album isn't out in the UK yet, but in America, black radio won't play it. Why, after all I've said above? Because - Joss Stone is a 16 year old girl from Devon. The album was even put out with a treated cover to try and disguise the fact. Racism, don't you just love it:-) Hopefully, y'all will rise above it, buy this, and take it to your heart.

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MUSHROOMHEAD - XIII

The members of Mushroomhead have been performing incognito since 1993, when drummer Skinny founded the band. At first, Mushroomhead was only meant to be a side project and as the members were playing in various local bands at the time, and they wore the blacks masks as a disguise. However, once their unique interpretation of hip-hop, punk, and goth rock as well as industrial and techno began to take off, Mushroomhead became the focus. Their self-titled debut album was released independently in 1995, followed by Superbuick in 1996 and M3 in 1999. They signed with Eclipse in 2000, and their next album, XX, came out the following year, to immediate international attention and praise. They then signed to Universal Records who rereleased XX.

And now they're back, bigger and badder than ever. XIII proves to be another superb release with the only difference being some added Faith No More melody to allay the harder edged metal-industrial crossover that has got them to this pint. Highlights on a very strong release include "Kill Tomorrow", "Mother Machine Gun" and "Our Own Way. Brutal, melodic and engrossing this has a freshness lacking from most metal acts today.

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PSYCHOPHILE - Transition

Now this is downright dirty, nasty, first thing in the morning, sweaty, furtive and fabulous. This is their first release proper after a hatful of demos going back nearly a decade, and it proves to be remarkably powerful.

Whereas some electrogoth can be a bit too Soft(cell) on the rock and roll side, there's a healthy dose of aggression with vocalist Lucy Pointycat (uhuh) raging against a backdrop of keybaords, guitars and occasional bass.

It's pedal to the goth metal, with touches of Diamanda Galas vocally, and a few extra gothpoints for the Ultra Vivid Scene cover. They can rock when they want to (A couple of times Psychophile touch upon the rock vein ("Invocation") and get all dancey on your ass ("Sciagraphy"). Hell, on "For Her" it's full spacerock alert.

The more I play the more I like, the more I find new things to listen to. And every time I do, I feel that little bit dirrtier.......

http://clik.to/psychophile

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TRIPOD - “Tripod”

When the press release informed me that Tripod was a trio employing the services of neither a guitarist nor a keyboard player I was intrigued. There have been precedents of course like early 70s British band Back Door with a line-up of bass, drums and saxes. While Back Door was compared with Cream, Tripod are more in the King Crimson league as the Schizoid like power of the opener ‘Jerome’s Spotlight’ testifies. The nearest comparison may be the mighty Crimso but Tripod does have a unique sound (although reminiscent at times of some early 70s music I couldn’t quite identify) defined by Clint Bahr’s 12 string bass and Keith Gurland’s alto and tenor sax, flute and clarinet. Early on I heard shades of Dave Jackson in his playing but there are many influences at work here I suspect. A strength and a weakness of Tripod is the vocals (Bahr)- they do add atmosphere to the music and the ‘You walk the walk and talk the talk’ chorus of ‘No Diamond Cries’, one of only two Gurland compositions on the album (Bahr writes all the lyrics), is simply irresistible. But the singing, unlike the excellent musicianship, lacks power and definition and gets rather lost in the mix at times.

Just to confirm the spontaneous excellence of the band there are two live studio improvisations. There is also a rather curious two minute instrumental ‘Ghosts’ that doesn’t really fit in with the rest but is the most haunting piece on the album and worthy of further development. No problems with the realisation of ideas on the closing song, the seven minute ‘As The Sun’, the most prog rock track on the album and one that approaches the intensity of Anekdoten.
I know that prog rock author Bill Martin and Crimson fanatic Sid Smith have already expressed their admiration for the band. Do yourself a favour and find out what all the fuss is about!
Contact: www.TriPod-theband.com And www.moonjune.com (Moon June Records) (MJR004)
(reviewed by Phil Jackson)

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ZZ TOP - Mescalero

They had me worried there for a minute. After hearing that this was a return to their Deguello era peak, I summoned up the energy to give it a listen. And the first two tracks stink. Oh, dear. But then "Alley-Gator" arrives with a burst of zydeco, and it's home sweet home. More a Billy Gibbons solo album than anything else, he's taken them back to being that Little Ol' Band from Texas I grew to love back in the dark ages.

Granted, there is still a compulsion to 'modernise', so you might want to skip over "Me So Stupid", but when the boogie breaks though as it does on "Buck Mekkid", you know you're in the presence of greatness. It's greasy and gritty with nods to the country on "Goin' So Good" and "What Would You Do" and a stroll back down the Rio Grande and across Mexico way on "Que Lastima". Another stupendous boogie "Liquor" shuts things down, but don't hit the eject button just yet or you'll miss the near hidden coda of that Tin Pan Alley classic "As Time Goes By".

Incredible to think that in their fourth decade, ZZ Top can still find reach deep down inside and come up with something so vital. And if you were lucky enough to catch them churning out "La Grange" on the Jay Leno show recently, then you'll know they've finally become the dirty old men they always wanted to be:-)