Album of the week
All Saints
Testament 4/5 (AS Recordings)
After two previous “comeback” albums of variable quality (Studio 1 in 2006 and Red Flag a decade later) All Saints settle into a much more consistent groove here.
Always a superb vocal band, the 90s quartet quickly re-establish their talent for close, rhythmic harmonies on the opening Who Do You Love and Three Four, these and a whole series of subsequent tracks beautifully couched in producer William Orbit’s haze of ethereal electronics.
Among the more conventional ballads, the anthemic Glorious, its signposted chorus and military drumming a nod to the Chiffons’ 1966 gem March, is as sublime as it is ridiculous.
Punch Brothers
All Ashore 4/5 (Nonesuch – out now)
Born out of the bluegrass-pop that singer and mandolin maestro Chris Thile played with his previous band Nickel Creek, the Punch Brothers quintet have developed a unique sound: part jazz, part classical, always fascinating.
On their fifth album they explore family and relationships with an empathetic and detailed eye, the beautiful title track charting the ups and downs of domesticity through a maritime filter (“Mama cuts through the morning like a man-o-war/Daddy burns through diversions like a meteor”).
Noam Pikelny’s banjo and Gabe Witcher’s bewitching fiddle playing, in particular, shift the colours and textures around Thile’s soft, precisely nuanced vocals. Exquisite.
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
While We’re At It 3/5 (Big Rig Records)
Gritty champions of the downtrodden, and up against it, the Bosstones’ wordy, supercharged ska is both thrilling to listen to and immensely inspiring.
Tackling subjects as diverse as the 1950s Hollywood black list (Hugo’s Wife), the desecration of their Boston home town and the plight of a labourer in a heartless corporation (The Constant), gritty vocalist Dicky Barrett and his superb band manage to shift their basic Two-Tone influenced blueprint into all sorts of compelling shapes.
Some of the brass arrangements are simply stunning.
Boz Scaggs
Out Of The Blues 3/5 (Decca/Universal)
Still best known for his 1976 album Silk Degrees, which virtually defined the smooth sound of FM radio rock, 74-year-old Scaggs has adopted a grittier approach in recent years, re-exploring the soul and blues favourites of his childhood.
Out Of The Blues covers snappy standards by the likes of Bobby “Blue” Bland and Jimmy Reed, Scaggs’s ripe voice chewing up the lyrics in winning style.
But it’s his hollowed-out, haunted rendition of Neil Young’s brooding masterpiece On The Beach that lodges in the brain.