Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers MOJO

The band’s first studio album in eight years and after a career spanning over thirty years (with over 60 million album sales), still delivering the goods. Ponder on this young upstarts: the band’s sold-out 2008 tour was the biggest of their career and came right after the band’s acclaimed Super Bowl XLII half-time performance with a worldwide audience of almost a billion people. MOJO for most part is an album that uses country rock, blues, reggae and roots to convey for the most part a series of slower, reflective songs. Petty has also pushed the instruments further up front in what seems to be an album of one-take studio tracks that come very close to sounding live. ‘Jefferson Jericho Blues’ opens the collection on a lighter, faster note with guitars filling empty vocal spaces left by and sounding very up-front. A slower ‘First Flash Of Freedom’ opens with a superb extended guitar intro before Petty’s vocal arrives in a song with a surprising level of pop sensibility. There’s a strong melody and really great instrumental interludes in one of the albums standout tracks. ‘Running Man’s Bible’ is dominated by a powerful rhythm with great vocal, Hammond and guitar moments completing a good package. This album takes a few listens to fully appreciate its quality and, despite the fact that there are no ‘killer tracks’, it is strongly recommended.
Standouts: Jefferson Jericho Blues, First Flash Of Freedom, The Trip To Pirate’s Cove, No Reason To Cry, I Should Have Known It, Good Enough.
4/5

John Grant QUEEN OF DENMARK

John Grant is the former lead singer with The Czars. QUEEN OF DENMARK is Grants solo debut made with Midlake who encouraged the singer to record the album. “I basically gave up on music” after a frustrating period with The Czars who garnered great reviews (especially from UK critics) but few sales. Midlake bassist Paul Alexander said, “We first heard The Czars on our first trip to London. John’s voice was the first thing I noticed but we didn’t go crazy over him until we saw him live, and then we got him to support us on the Van Occupanther tour in the US. At the end, we said he had to come to Denton and make an album.”

And it’s a good and distinctive one full of wonderful melodies like opener ‘TC And Honeybear’, which gets the album off to a great start. ‘I Wanna Go TO Marz’ is a track highly influenced by Midlake and featuring the most beautiful piano passages and multi-layered vocals, in addition to another powerhouse melody. Track after track hits the emotional mark culminating in the utterly gorgeous and anthemic ‘Queen Of Denmark.’ Grants baritone voice is a major part of the attraction here, but the song-writing is nothing less than superb with instrumental arrangements and production adding to the album’s emotional depth and ambience. Superb!
Standouts: TC And Honeybear, I Wanna Go To Marz, Where Dreams Go To Die, Its Easier, Outer Space, Caramel, Queen Of Denmark.
4.5/5

Luke Jackson AND THEN SOME…

Jackson moved from London to Toronto in 1997 with his guitar and eight-track full of songs. He then set about finding a Swedish musician Magnus Bojeson whose former band Beagle was one of Jackson’s favourites. The two musicians finally met culminating in this recording made in a Swedish studio with the help of a couple of Bojeson’s band-mates. It’s an album with strong pop sensibilities starting with its opener, ‘Come Tomorrow’, a joyous, optimistic song about surviving difficult times. ‘This Life’ is darker and stripped-down with a magical string arrangement (courtesy of London-based Robert Kirby) and another powerful melody. Many of the songs here are contemplative, reflecting the writer’s life and career experiences (‘Trouble’, ‘Goodbye London’, ‘All I Can Do’, ‘The Fear’). However, darkness is always balanced by light so even the saddest songs reflect hope. There’s a great diversity of pace and mood - the slow, acoustic contemplation of ‘A Little Voice’ followed immediately by rocky, faster ‘Half A World Away - with lyrics that are nothing less than meaningful and poetic, and a voice that is youthful and expressive. This is a lovely album.
Standouts: This Life, Trouble, Goodbye London, A Little Voice, All I Can Do, The Fear.
4/5

Orphan Boy PASSION, PAIN & LOYALTY

This British indie rock trio formed back in 2005 and released its debut album, SHOP LOCAL’ in 2008. Opening the new album, ‘Letter For Annie’, has a wonderful, extended keyboard intro (that reminds me of Prince’s PURPLE RAIN) before launching into far-flung vocals, powerful melody, good lyrics, and a song that builds to an epic scale… Keyboards feature again (this time distant and rhythmic) on ‘Popsong’, one of the more ordinary songs on the album. ‘Harbour Lights’, ‘Remember’ and ‘Some Frontier’ are more distinctive, but things improve dramatically at half-way stage. ‘1989′ and ‘Anderson Shelter Blues’ raise the bar with the introduction of piano and wonderful harmonica intro on the latter, more powerful melodies and contemplative vibe. It’s a mixed bag but with more winners than losers, and worthy of a buy recommendation.
Standouts: Letter From Annie, 1989, Anderson Shelter Blues, The Promise, A180 Song.
3.5/5

K. Anderson THE OVERTHINKER

I really wanted to love this album… Its songs are very introspective, well-written with good lyrics. Anderson’s voice is youthful and intimate while production is very good. So what’s missing? What’s wrong? For me the album only comes alive at halfway point with ‘Same Kind Of Grim’ with its strong finger-picked guitar and melody - something this album generally lacks. ‘Boy In Pearls’ is a quirky tune driven by dominating percussive sounds. ‘Don’t Waste Your Arrows’ is an intimate, conversational song which suddenly explodes in the choruses. It also possesses an original, haunting instrumental sound and emotional vibe. ‘T-Shirt Collection’ is the most desperate song here with its pleading, emotionally-changed vocal and subtle harmonies, and moves intensely with its honesty and openness. But perhaps this album is too introspective, too uncomfortable, too personal…
Standouts: Same Kind Of Grim, Don’t Waste Your Arrows, T-Shirt Collection.
3/5