Table of Contents
KATY PERRY: 143 (Capitol)
Verdict: mediocre comeback
Famous for her mint dresses and candy-coated pop, Katy Perry was a breath of fresh air when she first burst onto the music scene with the 2008 hit single I Kissed A Girl and a debut album, One Of The Boys, full of verve and personality.
But the Californian’s momentum has stalled lately, and the countdown to 143, her first album in four years, hasn’t been easy.
All three of his previously released singles have failed spectacularly, with none of them even reaching the UK Top 40, while Perry sparked an environmental controversy when the producers of his video were investigated for filming promotional material, allegedly without proper authorisation, in the Protected sand dunes of S’ Espalmador in the Balearic Islands.
Katy Perry was a breath of fresh air when she first burst onto the music scene in 2008.
Perry reaffirmed her pop credentials with a powerful performance at this month’s Video Music Awards in New York.
Despite all that, 143 manages to avoid being an absolute disaster. Perry’s ‘angel number’ name
Her summer comeback with the single Woman’s World was widely criticized, as was her decision to resume her creative partnership with one of her original collaborators, Lukasz Gottwald (aka Dr. Luke), a producer who was accused of sexual, physical and sexual abuse. emotional on the part of singer Kesha. . Gottwald, who denied any wrongdoing, countersued Kesha for defamation and a long-running lawsuit was finally settled out of court last year.
Perry reaffirmed her pop credentials with a powerful performance at this month’s Video Music Awards in New York, revisiting classic hits like Firework, but a return to the fray that should have flown like a mini rocket has so far turned out to be a flop.
Despite all that, 143 manages to avoid being an absolute disaster. It’s named after Perry’s ‘angel number’ (the numerical abbreviation for I Love You), and it has its moments. There are some passable, if dated, dance numbers, plus two touching songs inspired by his four-year-old daughter Daisy and the latter’s father, Hollywood star Orlando Bloom.
The first of them, Lifetimes, is an exuberant house-style hit. The second, Wonder, provides the album with a spectacular theatrical finale, in which Daisy has a fleeting cameo. “Stay pure, beautiful girl,” Perry sings.
Elsewhere, however, the 39-year-old singer chases trends without any real conviction or sense of fun. On the slinky Gimme Gimme and Crush, her voice is annoyingly covered in auto-tune, while the revenge song I’m His, He’s Mine contains an incongruous sample of Crystal Waters’ Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless), a 1991 single. about a homeless street musician. .
The Perry of yesteryear emerges only in flashes. All The Love, which begins as an electronic ballad before the pace picks up, allows her to finally open up her voice.
But much of 143 feels generic and plodding, and its flaws are further highlighted by the rise of a new wave of ingeniously inventive, less calculating pop goddesses. Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and others have upped the ante. Instead, this is devoid of the simple musical pleasures that once made Katy so captivating.
PIXIE LOTT: Encino (BMG)
Verdict: unexpected reinvention
Pixie Lott was one of several singers to emerge in the wake of Amy Winehouse in the late 2000s. Her first two singles, Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh) and Boys And Girls, topped the UK charts in 2009 at channel
a retro-soul sound clearly inspired by Amy. She reached number one again two years later with All About Tonight, cementing her status as one of the biggest party girls of the time.
Now, in a musical return after a decade that saw her transition to stage and television, the Essex-raised singer has taken an unexpected turn, moving away from dance towards something more classical and gang-orientated. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised: When I spoke with her in 2009, Lott confessed that she was a pop princess who often felt “more hippie, vintage, and indie,” and she happily explores all of those traits in Encino.
Pixie Lott was one of several singers who emerged in the wake of Amy Winehouse in the late 2000s.
Co-writing every song here, the mature Pixie Lott also exorcises some of her demons on the album.
Made in Los Angeles with producers Dave Gibson and Jeeve, the 33-year-old artist’s first album since 2014 makes the most of her naturally versatile and expressive voice. There’s an Adele-like richness to Further From Love, while the acoustic-based Show You Love, with strummed guitars and mandolin, taps into this year’s country-pop trend. Co-writing every song here, the mature Lott also exorcises some of her demons, tackling online bullying on Somebody’s Daughter and her battles with insomnia on Midnight Trash. The bruised piano ballad Say So, sung in a fragile falsetto, was inspired by what she says was an emotionally draining three-month stint playing Holly Golightly in the 2016 West End adaptation of Breakfast At Tiffany’s.
But the general mood is optimistic. The nostalgic Blockbuster Video harkens back to a time when watching a movie at home meant renting a VHS tape instead of a digital stream. Another country tune, Happy, has taken on new meaning for Lott since giving birth to a son, Albert, last year. The album closes with Comes Back Around, an acoustic song about learning from mistakes that takes inspiration from TS Eliot’s wartime poem Little Gidding. If that doesn’t get rid of Pixie’s frothy image, surely nothing will.
THE BEST OF THE NEW RELEASES
FAIR GROUND ATTRACTION
Beautiful event (rare song)
Mark Nevin’s band definitely lives up to the hype on a comeback album that arrives 34 years later.
Composer Mark Nevin once said that Fairground Appeal were ‘jazz musicians who played pop on folk instruments,’ and his band definitely lives up to the hype on a comeback album that arrives 34 long years after we first heard about them. for the last time in 1990’s Ay Fond Kiss.
Gatecrashing Heaven, beautifully sung by Eddi Reader, is a doo-wop ballad, and What’s Wrong With The World? (answer: ‘maybe it’s me’) dates back to their debut hit Perfect. Still capable of creating a winning hook, the band will begin a UK reunion tour tomorrow night at the University of Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall.
THE VOID
Like everyone before you (cult)
This latest album jumps randomly between electronic pop, guitar tracks and ambient piano pieces.
As lead singer and main creative force of The Strokes, Julian Casablancas was a pivotal figure in the garage-rock boom of the 2000s. With his other group, The Voidz, he is more adventurous, as is Blur’s Damon Albarn in Gorillaz.
Casablancas’s eclectic instincts, however, can sometimes get the better of him, and that’s certainly true here. This latest album jumps randomly between electronic pop, guitar tracks and ambient piano pieces. Flexorcist, with its echoes of early New York hip-hop and 1908 electro, is a highlight, although fans of The Strokes are warned to approach with caution.
MJ LENDERMAN
Manning Fireworks (Anti-)
Mark Jacob Lenderman plays most of the instruments on the album, but his guitar heroics take center stage.
North Carolina American singer-songwriter Mark Jacob Lenderman’s new hope puts a country twist on ’90s indie-rock.
The former ice cream salesman plays most of the instruments, but it’s his guitar heroics that take center stage, patchy on the title track, heavier on Bark At The Moon, a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. His witty lyrics are also attention-grabbing, with plenty of pop culture references. There’s a nod to The Band in You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In, and On My Knees has a reference to ‘Travolta’s bald head’.
She’s Leaving You tells of a middle-aged womanizer who believes Eric Clapton “was the second coming.”
Emanuel Feuermann Edition
(Sony 19439977442, seven CDs)
This box set includes everything Feuermann recorded for RCA Victor and, if you can be patient, with the sound quality between 1939 and 1941.
Killed by medical bungling in 1942, at the age of 39, cellists still look upon Emanuel Feuermann with awe and envy.
This box set includes everything Feuermann recorded for RCA Victor, and if you’re patient with the sound quality between 1939 and 1941, you’ll find his tone quite irresistible. There are trios with Arthur Rubinstein, Jascha Heifetz and our own William Primrose, as well as orchestral works with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy or Stokowski.
My introduction to Mendelssohn’s Second Cello Sonata came from the brilliant performance on Disc 7: Feuermann’s articulation is incredible.
Reviewed by Tully Potter