Sally...Naked
Sally
"Sally the Sea Urchin has grown up," reads the blurb attached to this CD, "and boy does it show!"
Well it shows alright, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Growing up, in Sally the Sea Urchin's case, seems to mean ditching the "sea urchin" part of her name, and releasing an album of adult oriented rock - with the emphasis on "adult", if you see what I mean, boys and girls...
The tacky cover, with a soft-focus snap of Sally sans spines, says it all.
This reviewer (like most other red-blooded males) used to have a bit of a
crush on sweet little Sally the Sea Urchin. But the new Sally appears to
be nothing more than a cheap slut.
2/10
Huw and Cry
Huw Edwards
After the rather disappointing sales generated by his debut LP, Huw Edwards has obviously given his all on the follow-up. And it was worth it too.
The album is sometimes dazzling, and never less than interesting, many of the pieces acting as showcases for his tremendous voice. On his version of Frank Zappa’s Willie the Pimp Huw and his band create an emotional resonance sadly lacking in the original. His male voice choir treatment of Einstein A Go-Go is truly inspired, and the ballardic rendition of G.G.Allin’s Scumfuc Tradition brought a tear to this reviewers eye.
Huw’s own compositions are no less affecting. It Ain't Easy, the first single to
be released from an album where almost every song is a potential hit, tells
of the loneliness of a Welsh newsreader far from home and missing the land
of his fathers. This Just In is a surprisingly bitter satire on the media, all the
more shocking for Huw’s deadpan delivery, and the perfect closing track for
a varied and strong album.
8/10
Yesterday's Roses
Belle and Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian's latest album is a collection of lovely smells, released in the form of an aromatherapy kit.
Most of it is a trifle insipid (the title track, for example, reminded me of cheap pot pourri) but the closing number, "Rutting Stags", kicks ass.
5/10
TAPU-HIKA/TAPU-HOKA
The idyllic twin islands of Tapu-Hika and Tapu-Hoka are situated in the middle of
the Pacific, over a thousand miles from their nearest inhabited neighbour.
Separated by a ten metre wide strait of water, the natives of both islands have
lived simply for thousands of years, fishing and soaking up the tropical sun.
This is not to say that they don't have a rich cultural life - far from it. Intrepid anthropologist Sir Arthur Rattigan visited the islands in the 1970s, armed only
with a tape deck and a microphone, and managed to record several hours worth of their folk-songs.
Now, for the first time, these songs are collected together on three CDs. There's one for each island, and a collaborative mini-album.
The results are superb. The Tapu-Hikan songs Hokan Fishing Nets are Poorly Made and Hokans Smell Faintly of Week Old Kla-Kla Fish are lyrical ballads of stunning complexity, whilst the Tapu-Hokan song Hikans Have Sex With Bulaka Fish - It's a Fact moved me to tears.
Unfortunately, although the music is exquisite, the lyrical subject matter can get a bit wearying after a while, consisting as it does of nothing but strings of insults aimed at each other's islands and innnuendos about each other's supposed personal habits.
This is why the bonus mini-album, which features the last tracks Rattigan recorded before his mysterious disappearance, comes as such a breath of fresh air. The sound quality isn't as good, but Patronising Idiot With Magic Box of Noises and Feed the Interloper to the Sacred Crabs are definitely worth a listen, and it's nice to hear the islanders finally come together and forget their differences, simply because of the unifying power of music.
9/10