Album reviews: Susan Boyle | Red Sky July | Rizzle Kicks | Jazz | Classical | Folk

Our critics take a look at some of this week’s new releases...

POP

Susan Boyle: Someone To Watch Over Me

Syco, £12.99 ***

SUSAN Boyle’s third album follows much the same pattern as her first two: a number of predictable easy listening or stage musical standards beside a couple of enigmatic curveball selections. So while the world hardly needs another version of Unchained Melody, even if it is sung with elegant control, and songs by bright young things Emeli Sande and Paolo Nutini are made to sound reassuringly old-fashioned, there is at the very least a curiosity value to her blissfully intoxicated take on Elkie Brooks’s Lilac Wine, while her slow, haunted versions of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence and Tears for Fears’ Mad World are practically gothic.

Red Sky July: Red Sky July

Proper, £12.99 ***

FIRST Ricky Ross and Lorraine Macintosh of Deacon Blue went a little bit country with their husband-and-wife project, and now Texas guitarist Ally McErlaine, back in the saddle after suffering a life-threatening stroke in 2009, follows suit with his spouse Shelly Poole, formerly of Alisha’s Attic, and the third person in this musical marriage, Charity Hair of The Alice Band. The gentle restraint, languid pace and simple pleasure of Red Sky July is miles away from the slick pop production of Texas. With its haunting harmonies, mountain hoedowns and fragrant disposition, the whole enterprise sounds like it was effortlessly conceived in a Nashville studio for the delectation of US country radio fans.

Rizzle Kicks: Stereo Typical

Island, £12.99 ****

BRIGHTON likely lads Rizzle Kicks stick out a mile from their Brit-hop contemporaries in taking their lead from Daisy Age rap acts such as A Tribe Called Quest and their hometown hero Fatboy Slim rather than the London-centric grime and dubstep scenes, but their debut album is no less commercial. Stereo Typical is a bright, energetic, appealing introduction to the duo, outlining their teenage concerns in conversational style against a backdrop of quality old school samples, such as the brass fanfare on Down With The Trumpets, the sunny ska bounce of When I Was A Youngster and a wholly unexpected burst of Rainbow Chaser by Nirvana – the British psychedelic rockers, that is, not Kurt Cobain’s lot. FIONA SHEPHERD

JAZZ

Bill Frisell: All We Are Saying…

Savoy Jazz, £19.99 ****

Bill Frisell switched labels in order to have the freedom to release more than one album a year, and celebrates that freedom with his third in 13 months. As the title suggests, this is devoted to his surprisingly faithful instrumental interpretations of the songs of John Lennon – 16 in all, from early Beatles (Please Please Me) through to his final non-posthumous releases with Yoko (Woman and Beautiful Boy). This is Frisell at his most accessible, and if the feel and approach is closer to rock than jazz, his characteristic melodic and harmonic economy works very effectively on these tunes. The unusual instrumental textures from the combination of the leader’s trademark guitar, Greg Leisz’s steel guitar, Jenny Scheinman’s violin, and the bass and drums of Tony Scherr and Kenny Wolleson give a fresh shine to the material. KENNY MATHIESON

CLASSICAL

Sibelius & Edwards: Violin Concertos

Canary Classics, £12.99 ****

TWO violin concertos: one well known, the other less so. The common factor is violinist Adele Anthony, whose remarkable presence and virtuosity gives equal lustre to the concertos of Sibelius and Ross Edwards, performed here with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra under Arvo Volmer. Edwards is Australian – one of a current Antipodean crop that have rejected modernism for a sweet-scented but meaty eclecticism. There are the pastoral strains of Vaughan Williams, the citrus-like harmonies of Walton and the edginess of Bartók, sewn together with a quasi-minimalist thread. The concerto (premiered last year at the Edinburgh International Festival) is titled Maninyas, Edwards’s own term for his so-called “dance-chant” style. Anthony delivers its innocent charm convincingly. The transition into the Sibelius is remarkably smooth and pertinent, and the playing is no less entrancing. KENNETH WALTON

FOLK

Sultans of String: Move

Own Labl, only available from www.sultansofstring.com ***

THESE Canadian “ambassadors of musical diversity” travel fast and far, right from the opening Andalucía in this live follow-up to their enthusiastically received Yalla Yalla! album, as Spanish rhythms drive their fiddle-and twin acoustic guitar front line into a plangent sigh of North-African-sounding strings. Elsewhere, Emerald Swing sees Hot Club high jinks with manic mandolin from Ken Whitely, while Bernie’s Bounce also stomps jazzward. Sometimes, however, the melting pot gets overheated. I didn’t particularly take to their unlikely treatment of Neil Young’s classic Heart of Gold, Amanda Walther and Sheila Carabine’s guest vocal harmonies crooning over a flicker of flamenco palmas handclapping. And electric guitar and synths sometimes lean on the lush side, compared to the bite of the acoustic instruments. There are some fine moments, however, not least Chris McKhool’s fiddle singing its way Middle-Eastwards, joined by Ernie Tollar’s liquid flute, in the torrid Road to Kfarmishki. JIM GILCHRIST