Lloyd Cole:
Standards:
Tapete:
Out Now:
9/10
It's been rather too long since Lloyd Cole recorded a full 'band' album but here it is, 2013's Standards, some way brighter, sparkier and lustrous than one might expect.
Given that his most recent studio set, the rather more acoustic Broken Record, gently simmered like a rich Southern stew, you'd half expect American resident Cole to keep it rootsy until he fills a hole in the ground. Thankfully, he's positively on best form here as he delivers his most rousing set of songs since, let's see, the Negatives album with the biggest hit that never was on it, What's Wrong With This Picture? It's the best part of ten years, at any rate and, get this, Standards could be the man's first chart album since the '90s. If that doesn't give you an indication as to how seriously flawed our music scene is, nothing will. And just to show you just how much Cole gives a flying one about 'hits', his last release was an electronica collaboration with German composer Hans-Joachim Roedelius - and yes, it was rather moreish. For this new studio set however, he's parked the synths, cleared his throat and assembled a band that comprises Matthew Sweet, Joan As Police Woman and Dave Derby, an old mucker from Negatives days.
But back to Standards and oddly for such a key songwriting figurehead, the opening song isn't a Cole original but a song written by hitherto unknown roots songwriter John Hartford. California Earthquake isn't the strongest track on the album but it's a fine fist-pumping start to what continues. Self-penned gems include Women's Studies (inspired by Miles Davis' paintings of the trumpeter's wife), the recent single Period Piece and the elegiac Myrtle and Rose, with all three reminding me of Springsteen, Go-Betweens (esp the late Grant McLennan's efforts) and Mike Scott in varying measures.
There's always something descriptive and evocative about Lloyd Cole's songs and perhaps Silver Lake is his holiest grail on here, with a lyric that starts with "put on some make up and dry your eyes" and ends with "I can't stay but I can't leave you like this". And even after a couple of average (for Cole) numbers towards the end of this album, Diminished Ex wraps things up with trademark jangling hooks and a chiming conclusion. If his PR notes are to be believed, Cole might have many more great songs like this stored up and ready to unleash.
Standards is far from standard - it's first-class from beginning to end.
Standards:
Tapete:
Out Now:
9/10
Given that his most recent studio set, the rather more acoustic Broken Record, gently simmered like a rich Southern stew, you'd half expect American resident Cole to keep it rootsy until he fills a hole in the ground. Thankfully, he's positively on best form here as he delivers his most rousing set of songs since, let's see, the Negatives album with the biggest hit that never was on it, What's Wrong With This Picture? It's the best part of ten years, at any rate and, get this, Standards could be the man's first chart album since the '90s. If that doesn't give you an indication as to how seriously flawed our music scene is, nothing will. And just to show you just how much Cole gives a flying one about 'hits', his last release was an electronica collaboration with German composer Hans-Joachim Roedelius - and yes, it was rather moreish. For this new studio set however, he's parked the synths, cleared his throat and assembled a band that comprises Matthew Sweet, Joan As Police Woman and Dave Derby, an old mucker from Negatives days.
But back to Standards and oddly for such a key songwriting figurehead, the opening song isn't a Cole original but a song written by hitherto unknown roots songwriter John Hartford. California Earthquake isn't the strongest track on the album but it's a fine fist-pumping start to what continues. Self-penned gems include Women's Studies (inspired by Miles Davis' paintings of the trumpeter's wife), the recent single Period Piece and the elegiac Myrtle and Rose, with all three reminding me of Springsteen, Go-Betweens (esp the late Grant McLennan's efforts) and Mike Scott in varying measures.
There's always something descriptive and evocative about Lloyd Cole's songs and perhaps Silver Lake is his holiest grail on here, with a lyric that starts with "put on some make up and dry your eyes" and ends with "I can't stay but I can't leave you like this". And even after a couple of average (for Cole) numbers towards the end of this album, Diminished Ex wraps things up with trademark jangling hooks and a chiming conclusion. If his PR notes are to be believed, Cole might have many more great songs like this stored up and ready to unleash.
Standards is far from standard - it's first-class from beginning to end.