Latest releases reviewed

TOM WAITS
Orphans
Anti
*****

Where do you start with this ludicrously talented rap- scallion? This is a kind of retrospective triple album of 54 tracks, 30 of them new recordings, including typically challenging readings of songs by such diverse talents as The Ramones, Daniel Johnston, Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht and Leadbelly. Subtitled Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards, each disc is designated accordingly, ie edgy dirty blues stompers (Brawlers), tear and beer-stained regret (Bawlers) and theatrical stories, settings, jokes and the odd tune (Bastards). There's a 95-page hardcover book with the limited edition - it didn't come with the review copy - which apparently carries all the lyrics in their colourful glory and a rake of photographs to boot. It's a remarkable collection from a remarkable artist who, buttressed and inspired by his talented wife Kathleen Brennan, has managed to surf the years and the fashions with the insouciance of a true maverick. www.tomwaits.com

MARIA MULDAUR
Heart of Mine - Maria Muldaur Sings the Love Songs of Bob Dylan
Telarc Records
****

Maria Muldaur is one of the great blues stylists with a wide range, though she is most at home in languorous reworkings of her beloved country blues. However, Muldaur is a New York gal of a certain vintage - she was 63 this year - and by her own admission Bob Dylan has always loomed large in her life. She has wanted to record this album for some time and brings to the selection (some well known songs and some not) a real sense of personal interpretation and purpose. She swings, she pouts, she lets her voice ripple through Dylan's cadences with an ease and a control mirrored by her cool, tasteful band. Check out her version of light-fingered Moonlight (from Love and Theft) and the sensual promise of I'll Be Your Baby Tonight for solid evidence of a great nod to Bob. www.mariamuldaur.com

THE SADIES
Tales of the Rat Fink
Yec Roc
***

An album packed with twangy instrumentals tied to an animated documentary movie about a man who led a personal hate campaign against Mickey Mouse presses a number of buttons. Canadian band The Sadies are past masters of twang; even though the 20-plus tracks sound alike, they're also sufficiently different to maintain interest and keep the feet tapping throughout. It also may be a first in other respects in that all 26 tracks are prefaced by the definite article! Rat Fink is one of the several characters created in the 1950s/60s by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, whose hatred of Mickey Mouse led him to draw the original Rat Fink. The cartoon character and Roth are featured in Ron Mann's documentary film Tales of the Rat Fink.

[ www.thesadies.netOpens in new window ]

JOHN SPILLANE AND LOUIS DE PAOR
The Gaelic Hit Factory
EMI
****

The title's half joking, all in earnest. John Spillane and Louis De Paor have been chiselling very particular songscapes over the years; The Gaelic Hit Factory represents the fruits of many long years of labour, now distilled by producer John Reynolds into a hi-octane infusion that will provoke thought in the most anaesthetised listener's cerebral cortex. There's a fair quantum of hip-swivelling fodder here too, lurking within the dark underbelly of Éist Do Bhéal and the sensual celebration of Inghean. Elsewhere, the calculus-like slingshot that characterises Leeside speech patterns spars in the rap-like rhythms of Buille Mo Chroí. De Paor delights in his deliciously taut wordplay and Reynolds swathes everything in glorious technicolour hues that transcend linguistic boundaries: world music for a new world.

www.johnspillane.ie - Siobhán Long