The Bluetones: Science & Nature (A&M)
After the Spaghetti Western chic of Return To The Last Chance Saloon, the Hounslow hombres are turning their satirical sights on those eternally American themes of cars, girls and death. Smart wordplay, inventive melodies and a sense of fun and adventure permeate these 11 new tracks, but though the band wax clever throughout, the results don't always ring true. Zorrro, for example, tries hard to swash its buckle, but ends up flailing wildly into thin air. Autophilia or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Car, on the other hand, is a finely-tuned Beach Boys pastiche, firing nicely on all musical and lyrical cylinders. Keep The Home Fires Burning torches the Hovis-ad view of domestic life, while Emily's Pine is wry, rock'n'roll tale of doomed love. Singing along is unavoidable.
- Kevin Courtney
Whitney Houston: The Greatest Hits (BMG/Arista)
The girl with the wobbly lip has been warbling away for the past 15 years, amassing enough hits to fill a double CD. If there's still any dispute that Whitney is the crown queen of pop/r&b, then this collection should settle it pretty pronto. From her jaunty early hits, How Will I Know, Saving All My Love For You, Love Will Save The Day and I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) to her recent singles, It's Not Right But It's Okay, My Love Is Your Love and I Learned From The Best, La Houston has consistently out-sung all her rivals, mixing vocal technique with soul and just a pinch of passion. Still, you'd need a lot of patience to get through all the slushy songs which clog up CD1, and a strong stomach to endure I Will Always Love You, that annoying anthem from The Bodyguard.
- Kevin Courtney
Janis Ian: God and the FBI
It must be really liberating for a recording artist to not have to give damn about fashions or fads. This sense of freedom pulses through Janis Ian's God and The FBI album, a work that bears not the slightest stain of artistic compromise and as such is a pure joy to listen to. And review. It hooks you from the opening moments of the title track, a funky flashback to the days of "commies, pinkoes, reds" and "J. Edgar Hoover in a pink tutu" - the 1950s. The same era is revisited in Play Like A Girl, a gloriously self-defiant song about a woman told she can't makes music because she, well, plays like a female. The album is rich in love songs that are both realistic and romantic, such as When You Love Someone. Magnificent music.
- Joe Jackson
Various: Ghost Dog - Way Of The Samurai (Sony Music)
When it comes to music, Jim Jarmusch knows his onions, which is probably why he sought out Wu Tang Clan marshall The Rza to soundtrack his latest release. Certainly, after seeing the film, it's hard to imagine anyone but hip-hop's most maverick soul scoring the noirish delights of this Samurai tale. While the release of the full score is still pending, we can make do for now with this compilation of out-takes and Ghost Dog-inspired slices of smokey Wu-Tang groove. With Rza controlling the flow, North Star (4 Sho Sho), Suga Bang Bang (Don't Test) and the Clan themselves (going into deep and dark waters on Fast Shadow) put their prints on the canvas. Lets hope the next Wu-Tang album tastes like this.
- Jim Carroll