Latest releases reviewed

NEIL YOUNG
Living With War
Reprise
****

Neil Young has never been renowned for his subtlety, so his Dubya protest album was always likely to be high on octane and low on incision. He hasn't disappointed. The 60-year-old apparently wrote and recorded these 10 tracks over two weeks, so there is no shortage of awkward moments that would undoubtedly have been erased on reflection, and some tracks offer more heat than light. That said, he's mad as hell and his sheer honest passion drives this album relentlessly and gives it a novel, almost newsy quality. It's simple stuff. Bush lied and people died, both in Iraq and in New Orleans. So he cranks up his guitar and lets his leader have it with all chords blazing: Let's Impeach the President, Lookin' for a Leader, Shock and Awe, Flags of Freedown, After the Garden and the title track make the case against. However, there is nothing to match the spine-tingling impact of Ohio, his contribution to the battle against another war in a different time.

www.neilyoung.com Joe Breen

THE WATERBOYS
Fisherman's Blues
 EMI
***

If Mike Scott could collect all the royalties owed to him by buskers inspired by this album, he could happily retire to Beverly Hills. (He's probably due at least 50 quid from me). This is the record that was probably directly responsible for The Frames, and it's being re-released as an expanded double album, so expect Grafton St to see a bit of a Waterboys revival this summer. Around 1985, disillusioned with trying to reconstruct his "big music" onstage, Mike Scott decided to go back to his roots - or somebody's roots, at least - and took the next jaunting car to Spiddal, immersing himself in the local sounds, reading Yeats and listening to Astral Weeks. In came fiddle player Steve Wickham, whose playing blended beautifully with the mandolin of Anto Thistlethwaite, and a new, warmer Waterboys sound was born. It still sounds like the ultimate seisiún, Scott leading his troupe through the exuberant title track, We Will not Be Lovers, Strange Boat, the buskin' cover of Van Morrison's Sweet Thing and, of course, . . . And A Bang on the Ear. It's a charming reminder of those innocent days before we all had to get proper jobs. www.mikescottwaterboys.com - Kevin Courtney

DEF LEPPARD
Yeah!
Bludgeon Riffola
***

Accompanying every band's decline is a burning desire to put out a covers album, and those steely Sheffield rockers have decided to step into the platform boots of their glam-rock heroes from the 1970s, interpreting tunes by T.Rex, Bowie, Roxy Music, Sweet, Lizzy, ELO, Faces, David Essex and - oddly - Badfinger. 20th Century Boy's monster riff suits Leppard strangely well, as does the space-rockin' Drive-in Saturday and the demon-disco stomper Hellraiser. They don't always go for the obvious, eschewing Hoople's All the Young Dudes in favour of The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll. The inclusion of Blondie's Hanging on the Telephone is explained by the fact that it was originally by punk band The Nerves, and He's Gonna Step on You Again is a cover of the John Kongos original, not the later, acieed-fried version by Happy Mondays. Yeah! may be a bit of a rocker's folly, but it's done with love and respect, and with enough flair that no one is likely to turn in their glitter-strewn grave. www.defleppard.com - Kevin Courtney

THE PRETENDERS
Pirate Radio 1979-2005
Rhino/Warners
****

There is probably too much here for the casual Pretenders fan, but those who have nursed a bruised crush on the band's music and their lead singer Chrissie Hynde for the best part of 25 years will find something to cherish in this 5-CD box set. The one thing that always set the band apart was and is Hynde's voice, which has managed to epitomise both the sensuality and the ring of authenticity of a woman who has lived a life and a half (and who also wrote songs titled The Adulteress and Bad Boys Get Spanked - oh, my!). It helps that Hynde can craft a tune, of course, and there are loads of cracking pop songs here: Brass in Pocket, Talk of the Town, I Go to Sleep, Hymn to Her, Night in My Veins. Extras feature live tracks (rarely a good idea, to be honest), cover versions (including a classy run-through of Morrissey's Everyday Is Like Sunday), a DVD disc of live performances and thorough sleeve notes. - Tony Clayton-Lea

SHEARWATER
Palo Santo
Fargo Records
***

This Austin-based band started out as a little light(er) relief for two members of the intense and very wonderful Okkervil River (check out last year's Black Sheep Boy tribute to Tim Hardin). But it is now developing into something much more with this fourth album - the first in which singer and multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg handles all the major duties from songwriting to singing. His voice is a soft falsetto and the mainly piano-based pop/folk melodies sweep and swoon with dramatic effect. There are some inexplicable wrong turns and poor production decisions, but these strange and bizarre songs will hold a fascination for a discerning listener. www.shearwatermusic.com - Joe Breen

ORSON
Bright Idea
Mercury
***

On the face of it, Hollywood five-piece Orson are an easy band to dislike and distrust. They arrived from nowhere, fully formed, at Manchester's In The City showcase last year and were immediately snapped up by a major label. As if that wasn't enough, their frontman Jason Pebworth claims equal love of Radiohead, Nirvana and, uh, The Doobie Brothers. He also used to sing in stage musicals and wears a trilby at a self-confessed "rakish" angle. As first impressions go, they're hardly Arctic Monkeys. But Orson are saved by some cracking tunes. The trick for striking an inescapable riff that they hit upon in monster hit No Tomorrow is repeated again and again. The title track and the Scissor Sisters' loose cousin So Ahead Of Me are stand-outs. This isn't Orson's Citizen Kane, but it's as nailed-on a smash hit as The Da Vinci Code. www.orsonband.com - Paul McNamee

STUART A STAPLES
Leaving Songs
Beggars Banquet
***

Compared to last year's stripped-down Lucky Dog Recordings album, Staples's second solo outing is a rather majestic affair. Written during a particularly purple patch, the album finds the Tindersticks balladeer's dourly soulful vocals overlaying some of his most accomplished songs to date. Subtle string and brass sections lift moodier pieces like Goodbye to Old Friends and the more jaunty Which Way the Wind, and the album is infused throughout with a spare, confident maturity. Guest duets (Maria McKee on This Road Is Long and Lhasa de Sela on the wonderfully-titled That Leaving Feeling), so often a let-down, are here beautifully written-for rather than endorsed-by. Staples stalwarts will be delighted by Leaving Songs' wholesome country/soul sound, but even those normally a little jarred by his club-style crooning should find this gorgeous collection an altogether more satisfying proposition.

www.beggarsbanquet.com  - Johnnie Craig

ZERO 7
The Garden
Atlantic
***

Few but those involved will recall Zero 7's last album, When It Falls, with any degree of fondness. After the highs of their Simple Things debut back in 2001, Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker's 2004 follow-up undid all this good work as they galloped in search of the Dido and David Gray audiences. What you'll find on The Garden is a band rediscovering the pace, elegance, melodies and grace that once produced sonic skyscrapers. The bluesy tones of vocalist Sia Furler are a huge help in this regard, her voice adding a bittersweet, aching soul to Throw It All Away and the excellent This Fine Social Scene, while the presence of José Gonzalez on a couple of tracks (especially Futures) is a particularly good match. What's abundantly clear is that Zero 7's sense of ambition has also been rekindled, The Pageant of the Bizarre casting the band into smiley, folky carnival terrain. The next album should be even better. www.zero7.co.uk Jim Carroll

PHOENIX
It's Never Been Like That
Virgin
***

For Phoenix, the 1970s never went away. There may be a slew of bands presently doing the rounds paying their respects to classic American AOR sounds, but the REO Speedwagon and Fleetwood Mac fan clubs in Versailles have been open for business since at least 2000. While Phoenix's previous two albums were gloriously out of time with everything else going on around them (and sounded all the better for it, too), the languid, winsome spirit that prevails throughout It's Never Been Like That sounds remarkably of the moment, especially with Thomas Mars singing as if he's never spent a night beyond southern California. Both Consolation Prizes and Rally offer hooks galore to snare radio programmers, while there's a lovely playfulness to how Napoleon Says and Long Distance Call unwind. If Orson can have hits, Phoenix could also enjoy a similar windfall. www.wearephoenix.com - Jim Carroll