Album of the week: Born Ruffians – Uncle, Duke & The Chief

Opening with the minimal, frantic strum of Forget Me, influenced by Bowie’s elegantly planned exit, and Miss You, a witty slice of call-and-response that recalls Johnny Thunders at his best, Uncle, Duke & The Chief is direct, energetic and beautifully under-produced.

Side Tracked, which follows, has the melodic wit of early XTC, Fade To Black, Trick and Ring That Bell a Ramones-ish rumble.

A deliciously retro but utterly fresh delight. 

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DARLINGSIDE

Extra Life ****

(More Doug) 

The opening title track of Darlingside’s second album might just be the closest approximation to The Beach Boys’ vocal harmonies you’ll hear. Elsewhere the four vocalists from Boston, Massachusetts, sound uncannily like Simon & Garfunkel (on Singularity) and Fleet Foxes (Futures).

But there is an intensity and strong spiritual depth to Darlingside’s music which is uniquely their own, particularly on the beautiful but strangely unsettling Eschaton, its title defined as “the final event in the divine plan”, where dancing electronics enhance the off-kilter mood.

Literate and exquisitely performed. 

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MITCH WOODS

Friends Along The Way ****

(Entertainment One)

Veteran boogie-woogie, jump blues and jazz pianist Mitch Woods has gathered an array of vocal guest stars here. From Van Morrison, who chews his way through the gritty opener Take This Hammer, to the great Maria Muldaur, who sounds a long way from her Midnight At The Oasis days on the risqué Empty Bed Blues.

If most blues albums drone on in an endless array of 12-bar whingeing, Woods varies the pace and mood brilliantly here from the positively breezy Singin’ The Blues, with unfussily soulful vocal by Ruthie Foster, to the rip-roaring Nasty Boogie.

“This is a song for all the nasty people,” declares Joe Louis Walker, though why they should be so deserving is anyone’s guess. 

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FEMI KUTI AND POSITIVE FORCE

One People One World ***

(Knitting Factory Records)

Being the offspring of a musical legend is never easy but as the eldest son of Nigerian jazz multi-instrumentalist and political firebrand Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the 55-year-old really does have a lot to live up to.

His tenth album, though, burns with a fiery intensity similar to his father’s best work and some of the scintillating instrumental runs here are as breathtaking as those on Fela’s masterpiece Original Sufferhead.

All albums released next Friday unless specified.