Latest releases reviewed

KRONOS QUARTET & ASHA BHOSLE
You've Stolen My Heart Nonesuch
****

Pairing the maverick Kronos Quartet with legendary Bollywood diva Asha Bhosle to pay tribute to the late RD Burman was an inspired idea. Burman was one of Bollywood's most feted composers, someone who created wild, groundbreaking soundscapes to match the scenes on the big screen. He was married to Bhosle, best known in the West from Cornershop's Brimful of Asha, but also a vocalist who sang on some 13,000 recordings throughout her career. There's mischief, magic and wonder in these reworkings of classics from Burman's songbook. Throughout, Bhosle's sweet, vibrant, remarkable voice perfectly chimes with the playful, epic drama of her late husband's work. Behind her soaring, symphonic vocals, the quartet, boosted by lute player Wu Man and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, take care of the musical flourishes with much overdubbing and experimentation. This deserves your time, money and applause. www.kronosquartet.org Jim Carroll

ROOTS

KIERAN GOSS

Blue Sky Sunrise EMI

Listening to Kieran Goss's first studio album for five years, I was struck by how he had cultivated a sound not unlike Rodney Crowell's. Then, on checking out Goss's website, there was a good reason for this: Crowell co-produced the album! However, this is something of a curate's egg - good in spots, but ultimately neither convincing as an adult pop album, a country crossover album nor a singer-songwriter album. The good bits are many, particularly a wonderfully sensitive duet with Kimmie Rhones on the story-song Why Should I Be Lonely, and the quiet intimacy of Nothing's Changed Again; but against that the clumsy anti-clerical I Don't Need Your Love and the cliched Gotta Get to You are obvious weaknesses on what is a relatively short album, even with a shoes-off closing reprise of the opening soft-pop title track.

www.kierangoss.com

Joe Breen

ERIN MCKEOWN

We Will Become Like Birds EMI

You just know that Erin McKeown was in the top stream in school and that she never had to raise an eyelid to get there. She is bright, articulate, talented and creative. So why don't I like her third album more? The answer lies in the detached tone of her voice, the less than gripping nature of some of her material and the half-realised production values. Her drummer is particularly irritating, laying fussy obtrusive patterns over gentle songs. She is at her best when her sidekicks turn the invention down and she can get on with telling us her stories, such as on Float or Delicate December, a torch-like duet with Peter Mulvey, or when she chooses to turn it up, as on the ringing new wave pop of White City. The common theme is birds, but this time too often she is away with them. www.erinmckeown.com
Joe Breen