48 MusicWeek 15.06.12
PRODUCTRECOMMENDED ALBUM OF THE WEEK
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TRACK OF THE WEEK
Into the Night (Loose Lips/Island)
AZARI & III
A Million Lights (Polydor)
CHERYL
Cheryl returns with her third solo album which claims to mark ‘an advancement in both her confidence and maturity’. The Polydor release has strong R&B influences throughout
whilst drawing on the energy of dance music in places, such as that of Calvin Harris collaboration, lead single Call My Name, and dub-effects on track Girl In The Mirror. Cheryl spent nearly a year in the studio recording the LP,
working with a vast array of producers including America’s Jim Beanz and Beema Boys and British talents Naughty Boy, Alex Da Kid and Hy-Grade.
will.i.am features on the track Craziest Things which tells the story of a couple in a volatile relationship. Since Cheryl first came to prominence as a member of Girls
June 18 INCOMING ALBUMS
ANDY GRAMMER Andy Grammer (S-Curve/ Warner Bros.) After a million track sales and a No. 1 Billboard Heatseeker album, Los Angeles
singer-songwriter Andy Grammer will release his self-titled debut in the UK. His transatlantic campaign has started well with single Fine By Me recently being honoured as Radio 2’s Record of the Week. Recorded with producers including
Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, R.E.M.), S*A*M* & Sluggo (Katy Perry, Metro Station) and Barrett Yeretsian (Cristina Perri), the LP blends vibrant pop, rock and soul with heartfelt lyrics and memorable melodies. Grammer has appeared on The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno, toured with Natasha Bedingfield and Gavin DeGraw, and became the first male artist since 2003 to reach the Top 10 at Adult Pop Radio in the US.
THE KING BLUES Long Live The Struggle (Transmission Recordings) The King Blues disbanded earlier this year - but have left the music
industry with a final offering in the form of album Long Live the Struggle. The LP is the follow-up to 2011’s
critically acclaimed Punk & Poetry and claims to boast a ‘newfound maturity and depth’ thanks in part to the record’s producer John Feldmann (Good Charlotte, Panic! At The Disco). Tracks such as We Are The Future
and Modern Life Has Let Me Down (released as a free download in May) are said to ring like the King Blues of old. As well as angrier musings, there are gentler, subtler outings such as Walking Away, Tear Us Apart and tearjerker, Wasted Words. Special guests on the record
JULY 2
include Jason Butler and Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong.
JULY 2
GLENN FREY After Hours (Polydor) Six-time Grammy Award winner and founding member of The Eagles, Glenn Frey will soon release
his first solo album since 1995. He has co-produced the LP with Richard F.W. Davis and Michael Thompson, members of The Eagles touring band. A collection of classic love songs
from the Fourties to the present, After Hours is Frey’s sixth studio album. The two-and-a-half year project was
developed out of his passion for the songs and sounds of artists such as Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, and Dinah Washington. Included is Fourties classics such as
Sentimental Reasons and My Buddy, and favorites from some of his contemporaries, such as Brian Wilson’s Caroline No and Randy Newman’s Same Girl, as well as American standard Route 66.
Aloud ten years ago she has gone on to sell over 10 million records. Her debut solo single Fight For This Love went to No. 1 in ten countries. Both solo albums 3 Words and Messy Little Raindrops also topped The Official Album Chart in the UK.
STAFF PICK: TIM INGHAM, EDITOR
REVEREND AND THE MAKERS @Reverend_Makers (Cooking Vinyl)
“His heart’s in the right place.” That’s the stock critic’s softener
when it comes to Jon ‘Reverend’ McClure – preceding a string of paragraphs savaging the self-appointed Sheffield sage’s over-reliance on psych-Britpop riffs and cocksure rhyming couplets. The Reverend has thus
far avoided complete defilement at the journo’s pen due to his saving grace: a worthy political cause. He’s aggressively castigated the BNP and become a prominent figurehead for Love Music, Hate Racism. Good bloke, fairly. What are we to make, then, of
JUNE 25
@Reverend_Makers, a CD whose accompanying PR worryingly tells us
McClure has ditched his politicking? Has the sizeable Yorkshireman finally ambled red-eyed into the fatal crosshairs of his detractors? Not quite; there are a smattering of
smartly-crafted, surprisingly danceable tracks here – enough to remind us that beyond the Cooper Clarke posturing and puffed-up hectoring, the artist who penned Heavyweight Champion Of The World has always known his way round a catchy pop tune. Best of the bunch is
Out Of The Shadows; a disco-flecked ass-shaker elevated by the cooing
vocals of McClure’s keyboardist (and better half) Laura Manuel. Other highlights include dogmatically dumb electro thumper Bassline and swaying love song (of sorts) Warts’N’All – in which McClure’s suitor is encouraged to stop clamouring to hide her imperfections on social media.
July 16
With their breed of brooding electronic beats smoothly laced with a signature soulful vocal, Azari & III exploded onto the scene with cult underground hit Hungry for the Power - a track that infiltrated dance floors and airwaves around the world and ignited the festival circuit last summer. The next single to be
released from their self-titled debut album is hedonistic anthem Into The Night. It boasts ‘breathing velvety synths over a melodic melting bassline’ courtesy of the production skills of Dinamo Azari and Alixander III and vocal from Starving Yet Full. This summer the band are
bringing their live show back to the UK with a performance on June 17 at Lovebox festival, followed by an intimate gig at London’s 100 Club on June 18.
JUNE 18
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