Latest CD releases reviewed.
PRIMAL SCREAM
Riot City Blues Sony BMG ****
The emphasis is more on "blues" than "riot", but nonetheless what a return to form this is for Bobby Gillespie's band of renegade 40-somethings. It begins with a roots-inflected single, Country Girl, and ends with the gospel-tinged Sometimes I Feel So Lonely. In between is the kind of regularly dirty rock 'n' roll that Primal Scream have become masters of - except with mandolins and fiddles. If it sounds like Gillespie and company have gone soft, then you're getting the wrong impression; rather, they're filtering the same influences (prime era Rolling Stones, New York Dolls, T. Rex) through a different set of creative sieves. The result is a rip-roaring, retro rock crock of gold. And there aren't many of those to the dozen these days. Tony Clayton-Lea
SCRITTI POLITTI
White Bread Black Beer Rough Trade ****
The 50-year-old Green Gartside may no longer be the blousy, your-Mum-look-alike of the mid-1980s, but he doesn't sound a day older than his Word Girl heyday on White Bread Black Beer, a sparkling return to form. Gartside's legendary, misplaced perfectionism has finally drawn together the disparate elements that always made Scritti Politti such an enigmatic project. This is a move away from 1999's ill-starred, rap-influenced Anomie & Bonhomie, and many of Gartside's former trademarks make welcome returns. Bookish lyricism, post-punk riffery, dub basslines and fluent, sweet-pop melodies are artfully sewn into a gorgeously meandering collection of near-angelic pop songs. Nothing to quite top The Sweetest Girl, perhaps, but addictive tracks like the luscious Snow in Sun and multi-hued epic Dr Abernathy confirm that Scritti Politti really are the bee's knees, not simply Wood Beez. Johnnie Craig
TUNNG
Comments of the Inner Chorus Full Time Hobby ****
Timing is everything. While there would have been much to like about the wistful, slow-motion electronic folk on Tunng's second album at any time, the current vogue for all things folky can only be to the collective's advantage. Whatever about the more straightforward route taken on last year's This Is . . . album, it's how Tunng use and abuse notions that they've cogged from here, there and everywhere which makes this one such a grower. For every soft-focus, sleepy vocal from Sam Genders to put you in mind of José Gonzáles or Nick Drake (Woodcat), there's a ream of rampant sampledelica that could have fitted onto the first few Lemon Jelly EPs. Yet once you veer beneath the surface hiss and ramshackle clicks, you'll find some rather sturdy song structures propping up haunted, eerie tunes like Jenny Again, Stories and The Wind-Up Bird. www.tunng.co.uk Jim Carroll
MUNDY
Live & Confusion Camcor ***
Only Damien and Glen can command a more loyal and enthusiastic home crowd than Mundy, but I'll take the easygoing boy from Birr over the earnest other two anyday. so it makes sense for him to harness all that goodwill and turn it into a double live CD/DVD set. This show was recorded in Vicar St last October, and finds the boy from Birr in his usual fine, roots-rocking fettle, delivering favourites such as Rainbow, Rescue Remedy, Mexico and To You I Bestow with raucous, ramshackle grace. Though his most recent studio album, Raining Down Arrows, isn't half as tune-filled as 2002's 24-Star Hotel, songs such as Love & Confusion and Something Good still rock out live. Sharon Shannon drops in to guest on Galway Girl, but the centrepiece is, of course, the summerlove anthem July, the crowd adding their voices to make it truly live. www.mundy.ie Kevin Courtney
THE HANDSOME FAMILY
Last Days of Wonder Independent ***
It's album No 7 for alt. Americana's odd couple, Brett and Rennie Sparks, so if you haven't acquired a taste for their sparse country stylings by now, then you probably never will. True, the pair's moody, slow-waltzing approach and Brett's deep, dipthong-heavy voice can get a little tiresome after a while, but when the Handsome duo hit the right emotional note, it can bring a shiver of satisfaction. Rennie's lyrics fill those empty spaces in everyday life, in airports, shopping malls and streets, while Brett's music assembles numerous fragments together to create something that feels wholesome and true. These Golden Jewels is built on an old sample he found on his PC, and many of the bowed saw and pedal steel sounds were actually emailed in from guest musicians. Standout track Tesla's Hotel Room, about misanthropic inventor Nikola Tesla, is filled with evocative images of bubbling test tubes and exploding light bulbs. www.handsomefamily.com Kevin Courtney
