Scroll down for the latest releases by Franz Ferdinand, Martin Gordon, Kingsbury Manx, Supergrass and The 88

Franz Ferdinand
You Could Have It So Much Better

(Domino)

dominorecordco.com

I don't think Franz Ferdinand will ever top their debut album. It is one of the classic first albums of all-time, on par with premieres from bands like The Pretenders and The Stone Roses. Thankfully, the Scottish quartet has done much better than those bands at the ‘difficult' second album. If I could analogize, this album is to the eponymous debut what Gang Of Four's Solid Gold was to its amazing Entertainment -- a stellar effort that burrows further into a recognizable style, showing the band can create a lot of worthy new songs with the same ingredients.

Of course, it is always encouraging when the first single of the sophomore disc ranks with the band's best. That is certainly the case with "Do You Want To", a bracing amalgamation of hooks that takes some of the funk-disco and glam rock ideas from 2004 and jolts them with adrenaline. From the primary funk riff to the "do do do" backing vocals, from the glib witty lyrics to the stop-start dynamics (the Sparks influence), and the presence of two or three ridiculously catchy bits, this song is the essence of a hit rock and roll single. It oozes confidence that is evident throughout the rest of the album.

However, nothing can measure up to that song. Still, the boys give it a go, and there are plenty more good songs, with a few of the best on the front end of the disc. "This Boy" bursts out of the speakers with such energy, it chases you around the room. The song mixes an angular XTC-ish (circa Black Sea) guitar ping-pong with a spunky proto-power pop melodic rock chorus. With Alex Kapranos' cool distorted vocals, this might be what early Roxy Music would have sounded like if they really rocked out.

The lead cut, "The Fallen" has a dramatic beginning and shows off the band's proclivity for instantly appealing guitar lines. While Kapranos and Nick McCarthy trade off spiky melodic licks (yes, I realize that ‘licks' isn't very art school...), secret weapon Bob Hardy lays down one of his hyper-creative bass lines. Since Paul Thomson lays down such fat beats, Hardy can play around to his heart's content, always finding a space within the mix to add to the song. The track is basically the guitars circling around each other and then colliding in the chorus to good effect. The lyrics seem to be making some sort of statement about the misuse of religion: "I never had a doubt that you ever existed/I only have a problem when people insist on /taking their hate and placing it on your name." Obviously, they they're against it, but some of the lyrics don't elaborate or illustrate the point. They aren't bad, yet they could be better.

While the band doesn't take any great leaps musically, they are trying hard lyrically. And I'm not sure if they had to. One of the great things about the debut was the direct lyrics. The songs had a clear meaning and intention – "Jacqueline" and "Michael" may not have been Dylanesque poetry, but they said what they had to say well. There are some tracks here in keeping with that approach. "Do You Want To" is a prime example, showing a great deal of wit. Likewise, "I'm Your Villain", which starts off as it might break into a samba, until heading in a more Bowie/Duran Duran-ish territory, is a nice mix of direct and suggestive, as Kapranos is a sinister silly boy trying to break through a lover's sober facade: "You're so serious/like a waiter hating the rich/but taking their tips." The galloping "Well That Was Easy" also has some nice pithy words that compliment the music – this song sounds like a cross between dance floor Blondie and the sublime Suburbs.

Other songs though are a journey through The Land Of What The Fuck, where artists like Ric Ocasek and Frank Black gravitate. "What You Meant" is a cryptic mid-tempo number that has Kapranos noting "I just don't know what you meant". Well Alex, it works both ways, though I have to admit that I can't get the line "I feel life inside the ligament" out of my head. I don't know if want to know what that means. I do know that going from slinky bass dominated verses to a jaunty chorus that is kinda Beatles, kinda Blur is pretty cool.

The biggest sign of progress is the band's facility on slower material. "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" is pure ‘60s Brit pop ballad. Musically, it's probably more in line with the simple sweet tunes The Troggs would put out from time to time, but the words are a bit more sophisticated. Indeed, Kapranos' ode to his current squeeze (the singer for Fiery Furnaces) and New York City smacks of sincerity. Meanwhile, "Walk Away" has a lead guitar part that is countered by the fading chorus melody which is accompanied by the great tag line: "I love the sound of you walking away." They manage to throw in a middle eight that cribs right from the debut's "Auf Asche", but that's the only flat out rewrite.

The best test of an album is how it stands up to repeat plays, and I can safely say that I've played this about 20 times or so already. It's too much to ask a band to prove it's all-time greatness on its second album. And this album doesn't do that. But it doesn't rule that status out either. This is an energetic album by a band that always sounds terrific. It just has a few less flat out classic songs than last time around.

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Martin Gordon
God's On His Lunch Break (Please Call Back)

(Radiant Future)

voiceprint.co.uk

Sometimes you can tell a lot about an artist by the songs he covers on an album. On his third solo effort, Martin (ex-Sparks, Jet, Radio Stars) Gordon tackles Paul McCartney's "Too Many People" and Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Captain of the Pinafore". And this, to some extent, encapsulates the Gordon approach to rock – witty lyric driven music with classic pop-rock structures and hooks, with a lot of showy flair.

The heart of this album is pretty similar to the first two Gordon efforts, with shimmering and biting songs in the tradition of his Jet and Radio Stars material. It's at the margins where this record really differentiates itself, and even that is fairly subtle. Much like George W. Bush, Gordon is staying the course, but unlike Dubya, he has a much better plan with which to work.

Fans of Gordon will instantly take to songs like "Miracle Baby", a witty look at a modern day immaculate, or at least inexplicable, conception. Like many of the best Gordon songs, singer Pelle Almgren manages to sing the lyrics with a combination of serious engagement mixed with a wry amusement. The hook has a familiar see-sawing melody, making this sound almost like a nursery rhyme for adults. Of course, nursery rhymes don't speculate that a "naughty vicar" might be the father, posit a Holy Ghost holding up a cheese sandwich "with the face of the Lord", or have brilliant quatrains like: "maybe the geezer with the facial hair/sitting on a cloud in the air up there/had a finger in the pie if you know what I mean/now there's an odd-toed ungulate living in her jeans." At least none that I've ever read.

"How Am I Doing So Far" is another delight. Gordon's new guitarist Enrico Antico takes a Dave Davies riff that must have been lurking in the closet and spiffs it up in fine power chord fashion. On this song, Gordon takes over the primary vocal chores. Well, not so much singing as acting the lyrics out, mumbling in a manner that is part Phil Daniels on Blur's "Parklife" and the more current style of The Streets. This penetrating snapshot of the male psyche has a typically simple and effective sing-a-long hook (sing along with Almgren). Even better is the middle eight, with a sharp melody which leads into an economical solo by Antico that moves the song into the home stretch.
Musically, my favorite song is "Bad Light Stops Play". This is a bit of slower song, and I find that when Gordon moves into this territory, his songs get more into the realm of The Beatles, The Move and Cheap Trick. And, as you may well imagine, this is an excellent place to be. Here, Almgren really gets to show off all the reasons he is such a great singer. In the verses, he is gentle and rangy. And then he is intent and sturdy in the choruses. The hook in the chorus is kind of neo-psychedelic, but not in an obvious way. Excellent stuff.
As fizzy as so much of this is, Gordon has a bit of H.L. Mencken/Randy Newman curmudgeon thing going on. Wait...did I say a bit? I meant a bushel. The latter half of the album really lets this side go. The final two songs, "The End of the Line" and "Fags", are subject to misinterpretation, when they are examples of how to expose bigotry and stupidity by exaggerating it. On "The End of the Line", the band plays whimsically, the music a variant on music hall and the sillier side of Harry Nilsson. The lyrics sound like the rant of some sloshed old coot at the end of the bar, complaining about how the world is going down the tubes and everyone else is to blame.

Meanwhile, "Fags" starts off with dreamy music before breaking into cacophony. Gordon simply rants while Antico shreds and Chris Townson bashes away on his drum kit. The song flits back and forth between these two sounds. To the sloppy listener, this may sound like the harangue of a homophobe, but it's really just an ode to the horrors of cigarettes. Why can't this be used by the American Cancer Society as a jingle?

My favorite of Gordon's commentaries is "Gimme Food". This is another typical Gordon power-popper. His bass playing gets things going, joined by some sweet playing from Antico. The light (or lite?) verses detail the insatiable need to have more and more food, and the chorus is well-arranged, with Almgren's lead vocal supported by strong backing vocals (from Gordon and Almgren). This is how you build a hook, with both the melody and the arrangement. This song is a funny jape at consumer society in general.

While there is a tendency to demand that artists radically reinvent themselves on each album, there's a lot to be said for perfecting a given style. I would say that of the three Gordon albums to date, my favorite is the second one (The Joy Of More Hogwash), but that really any of these will do in a pinch. I do hope that Gordon explores more of the music hall/musical direction that he hints at on some tracks (most obviously the Gilbert and Sullivan cover). He'll always pen strong lyrics, so it's just a matter of seeing if he wants to continue in this current rock direction, or maybe try something more ornate. I'm looking forward to whatever he does next.

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Kingsbury Manx
The Fast Rise And Fall Of The South

(Yep Roc)

yeproc.com

The fourth album from a band that is quietly putting together a fine recorded legacy. The Manx are a mellow band who play a brand of rock that takes some elements of spacious psychedelia and pastoral ‘60s Britpop to make something that is often sweeping and sweet at the same time. The songs on this album have a strong emotional pull, a testament to the strong craftsmanship in evidence here.

This is one of those albums that unfolds slowly. The first couple of songs, "Harness and Wheel" and "And What a Fallout!" are nice enough. It's with the next two songs where things really take shape and the band begins to work its magic. "What a Shame" is grounded in a majestic ebbing piano part and a classic melody. The lyrics are simple, as two lovers speculate on what life and closeness and intimacy are all about. There is a lovely instrumental interlude with horns and a swelling organ that contrasts the plain spoken homilies. The melody has a hint of Ray Davies, but there is something (appropriately) Southern about this tune.

This is followed by "Zero G". Scott Myers plays a very church-y organ and singer Bill Taylor is right up front in the mix with the organ. Something about the primary melody reminds me a little of R.E.M. – there is a mysterious and droning quality. Yet the melody takes an upturn as Taylor sings the tagline "and we/have us our own/clear understanding". A subtle bass finally moves in and there's a pithy acoustic guitar solo. Rarely can a song have a droning vibe yet sound so sweet. This is an indelible tune, augmented by a superb arrangement and top notch production from Wilco's Mikhael Jorgenson.

Oddly enough, one of the songs on this album sounds like it could have made it on Wilco's Summerteeth. "Oh No" has a stark quality that befits the melodic poppier forays by Jeff Tweedy on that classic record. The Manx add their own special touches, including light "ba bum bum" backing vocals. This is yet another song which features the band's skill at countering a song's primary melody with an equally lovely secondary melody.

The band also shows great care in their playing. On some tracks, the guitars, bass, drums and keyboards interlock perfectly. This is probably best exemplified on "Snow Angel Dance". A walking bass line, shuffling drums, a lead guitar line that also ascends and descends creates a very specific feel. Within that, an acoustic guitar strums along and the organ embellishes. Coming out of the ascending/descending pattern, a little bell like coda adds to the beauty of the song.

The band gets in touch with an inner Velvet Underground, initially, on "Nova", a song that is fairly mellow, but qualifies as a rocker relative to the rest of the disc. Here, Myers's bass playing and Ryan Richardson's steady drumming key the track. Taylor sings in measured tones, his vocals muffled a bit in the mix, giving the song a bit of mystery. There are some forceful lead guitar lines that cut through the atmosphere with great impact. This song is alluring, yet hard to pin down.

The Kingsbury Manx really deserve a lot of credit for playing music that isn't really fashionable and steadfastly sticking to what they do well. A fall release for this album is appropriate, as it is the perfect soundtrack for a cloudy cool fall day.

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Supergrass
Road To Rouen

(Capitol)

capitolrecords.com

The fifth studio effort from Supergrass is a change in direction from the last album. Whereas Life On Other Planets was a grown up version of the fizzy singles oriented pop on their debut, this new album is simply grown up. The songs are stretched out, and there is more augmentation of the core quartet, with strings and horns popping up here and there, and multi-tracked keyboards and guitars.

Frontman Gaz Coombes has always had a knack for crafting melodies that, no matter how peppy the music, were suffused with a sad and/or melancholy vibe. This created a unique tension that gave Supergrass's pop tuneage gravity (or maybe gravitas?). I think this is overlooked by a lot of people, but it makes the band's music a bit more resonant, even if Gaz isn't exactly the deepest lyricist around.

On this album, the musical approach is sympathetic to this sad undercurrent rather than in contrast to it. This actually does not benefit the music as whole. Although the craft is there and the songs create strong moods and vibes, the lack of lyrical substance leaves these tunes somewhat incomplete. Which is a shame. This is still a worthy outing, but the sumptuous music and quality melodies should be crowned with words that give a substantial foreground to the amazing backgrounds the band whips up.

One of those is on "Sad Girl", which begins with a slice of Lennon, Robert Coombes electric piano playing mournful chords that are very late ‘60s Beatles. The song is a string of observations that doesn't quite pass muster as a character study. Yet the music is so good – the chorus is haunting, with staunch tom-toms pounded by Danny Goffey and Robert tinkling the ivories as Gaz sings in a sweet falsetto. Ah...this is nice.

And it is equaled by the epic ballad "Roxy" that follows it. This is a song that builds like classic Bowie or Elton John – the classic big piano piece, though the words are kind of weak. The hook here is monolithic, and there's a beautiful instrumental interlude with Robert's electric piano playing augmented by a sterling string arrangement. The strings ultimately swell until a climactic George Harrison-like guitar solo from Gaz. In some respects, the last few minutes of this song are comparable to the early days of the Electric Light Orchestra.

The band also inflects their music with a twist of R & B on "Fin". Gaz's vocals are dropped in the middle of the mix, while Robert's keyboards and Mick Quinn's bass dominate. The band creates a languid, summery feeling here. But the song needs a bit more of a pulse. There are also some tracks that have a bit more of a rock feel. The intro to "Kick In The Teeth" sounds like something Sloan might have come up with. In fact, this song may come the closest to sounding like a refugee from the last album, mixing a Faces guitar part with the usual quality Gaz hook. The title cut kind of conjures up a rock variation on the soundtracks to movies like Superfly and Shaft, juxtaposing that with a smooth chorus. If anything, I wish they had played up the soul vibe in the verses.

This is an intriguing album because it represents both the best and worst facets of this band at the same time. Almost any Supergrass track will contain good ideas and is worth a bunch of spins. And they have enough musical ideas to go beyond the length of a single. But when they focus on basic pop song length, they are more likely to come up with witty lyrics and phrases that really stick. However, they are hard pressed offer any more significant observations. They are a great sounding band with many great songs. Yet they might not have a truly great album in them.

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The 88
Over and Over

(EMK/Mootron)

mootron.com

The first thing you need to know about The 88 is that they have a strong Kinks influence. Their sound seems to blend the classic late-‘60s sound of The Kinks with a more contemporary power pop vibe. Frontman Keith Slettedahl writes songs that are smart, literate and hooky. His singing is a bit Raymondo Davies-ish. Then again, you could also say that it's a bit like Marc Bolan, during the phase when Tyrannosarus Rex was about to morph into T. Rex. There are prototypes for his tenor and falsetto vocalizing. And his singing fits the tunes he writes.

On this second album, Slettedahl and his compatriots don't make any radical moves, they just polish up and fortify their sound. This record is a bit ballsier than the debut, and while that wasn't necessary, it does sound pretty damn good. Some of their songs compare favorably to Fountains Of Wayne in terms of flat out catchiness. A jocular piano gets things rolling on "Battle Scar", joined by drums in syncopation, giving the song a great rhythmic bounce. The melody just wraps itself around this instantly likeable combination. This song sounds like a 1973 British chart hit, but for guitars that are more robust than you would have found back in those days.

Slettendahl starts off "All ‘cause of You" stating that "I've been sinking through the drain of love" and he finds redemption in a woman. He sings over one sustained guitar and one plucked, with the band kicking in on the second verse. This song has a bit of a music hall vibe, it's so damned jaunty. Here, Slettendahl shows some vocal range, really belting out as the song morphs into some mish-mash of Jellyfish and Hawksley Workman. He is engaged in these lyrics of a guy who has turned his life around, singing "tell your mama that you won't be home/let your daddy know your not alone/all I want to do is make you mine/I said I love you, ain't it time." This song is so joyful. But is he singing "there ain't no blood on my hands" there near the end? Hmm...a bit of a twist at the end.

The one area where The 88 does not compare favorably to their inspirations is that they aren't consistently good lyricists (though they never pen groaners). This is the area where they are certainly developing, as "All ‘cause of You" shows. At times, they seem to be reaching for something more substantial, but it's quite there. "Jesus Is Good" is a solid slow acoustic number, and as musically attractive as it is, I haven't the foggiest notion as to what it is all about.

Maybe they are better off with relationship songs. Anyone can relate to telling a old lover (or an unrequited love who passes on you) that "I'm gonna haunt you for the rest of life" (from "Haunt You"). The lilt in Slettendahl's voice when he sings that "I've gotta lot of catching up to do/just for me/just for you" is insinuating – he is being playful and arrogant at the same time.

The disc ends on a real high note. "Not Enough" is a brassy and intent tune. The band locks in on the rhythm, which only lets up for little wrinkles of melody. There is a nice part mid-song where everyone drops out for a bit, while Slettendahl sings over a mellotron line, asking over and over "what's the point in talking/if that's not enough". A great question, indeed. The band kicks back in harder than ever. This is a tarted up blues song, glammed up without taking away from the underlying anger of the song. A great song and a great performance, and this has to be a highlight of any live show from The 88.
The last 88 album slowly but surely got attention. There is a lot riding on this album for the band. Although this isn't a grand slam home run of a disc, it packs a big punch and should continue to build the buzz. They may be a band on the verge of something really special.

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