(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019
it’s friday! music
Pictures: JOHN SALANGSANG/REX/DOVE SHORE
New releases Classical
by Adrian Thrills
TAYLOR SWIFT: Lover (Virgin EMI)
Verdict: Taylor rediscovers her mojo ★★★★✩
SHERYL CROW: Threads (Valory Music)
Verdict: Smartly stitched together ★★★★✩
F
our months shy of her 30th
birthday, Taylor Swift is taking
a long look in the mirror. She
made her name as a whipsmart
singer-songwriter, but her
talent has since been eclipsed by
external distractions.
Her last record, reputation, was concerned
with settling scores with rivals such as Katy
Perry and Kanye West. And her seventh album,
Lover, arrives in the wake of a row over the sale
of her old songs that has seen her threaten to
re-record them all to regain ownership.
For now, she has dealt with the situation by
going back to what she does best — writing
clever, confessional songs that articulate her
feelings with wit and self-awareness. Lover is
lighter and brighter than the petulant reputa-
tion — and all the better for it.
In moments of doubt, it pays to look back,
and Lover reprises the bubbling synths of
Swift’s best-selling album, 1989, and the zest-
ful pop of its 2012 predecessor, red. There are
even traces of her Nashville roots. Producer
Jack Antonoff remains, but the harder-edged
sounds of reputation are absent.
The fact that she is besotted with her British
boyfriend Joe Alwyn, an actor who appeared
with olivia Colman in The Favourite, has
clearly had an effect.
Taylor wears her heart on her sleeve on Paper
rings, a brilliant girl-group pastiche, and the
title track, a country ballad.
Then there’s London Boy, an unintentionally
hilarious tourist’s-eye view of the English
capital that has attracted online derision for
its glowing portrayal of Camden’s crowded
market and Swift’s improbable fondness for
watching rugby in the pub.
As an ode to transatlantic romance, it isn’t a
patch on Estelle’s American Boy, but it works
well enough as a light-hearted pop romp.
S
HE addresses broader issues, too,
skewering gender bias on The Man and
calling out homophobia on You Need
To Calm Down.
on Miss Americana & The Heartbreak
Prince, she uses an unhappy high school prom
as a metaphor for division in her homeland.
The latter owes something to Bruce Spring-
steen, too; its smalltown vignettes a reminder
that Swift was raised in rural Pennsylvania
before moving to Nashville with her parents
at 14. She once scrawled a line from
Taylor is
Swiftly
back to her
bright and
witty best
Springsteen’s No Surrender on
her arm before a live show and
refers to him by name elsewhere
on this album. unlikely as it
might sound, she clearly sees him
as an inspiration.
If her political points are voiced
discreetly, there’s no such holding
back on the personal front.
I Forgot That You Existed cele-
brates fading memories of an ex-
lover, while The Archer, all moody
synths, is brutally self-critical: ‘I
cut off my nose just to spite my
face, then I hate my reflection for
years,’ she sings.
Most poignantly, Soon You’ll Get
Better is a haunting account of
her mum’s battle with cancer.
Embroidered by banjo, fiddle and
superb harmonies by the Dixie
Chicks, it reiterates just how good
a songwriter Swift can be.
Lover, its 18 tracks lasting over
an hour, is too long. Afterglow and
Death By A Thousand Cuts make
no impression and recent single
Me! is a try-hard jamboree of
Broadway showiness. False God,
an intriguing detour into woozy
jazz, sounds as if it belongs on a
completely different record.
otherwise, it’s a case of normal
service resumed. Lover closes with
the optimistic ballad Daylight,
which was originally the album’s
title track. Taylor will be hoping it
signals a bright new dawn.
n SHErYL CroW pulls out the
stops on her eleventh album,
assembling such a powerful
support cast that she has hinted
Threads could be her final LP.
With Stevie Nicks, Mavis Staples,
Eric Clapton and Keith richards
on board, it certainly gives her a
hard act to follow.
The Nashville-based singer is 57
but has the aura of a more
seasoned artist as she combines
effortlessly with the heritage acts
here, whipping up a storm with
Nicks on country-rocker Prove
You Wrong and dovetailing with
richards on The Worst, a
slow-burning Stones ballad from
1994’s Voodoo Lounge.
Crow and Clapton were once
romantically entwined — her 1998
single My Favorite Mistake was
about their relationship — and
there’s a frisson to their reunion on
Beware of Darkness, a George
Harrison cover. She tackles Bob
Dylan, too, duetting with Jason
Isbell on Everything Is Broken.
Her own songs augment the
cover versions. Still The Good old
Days is a banal boogie with Eagles
guitarist Joe Walsh, but Live Wire
is a bluesy soul number illumi-
nated by Mavis Staples and Bonnie
raitt. There are surprises, too, the
biggest being rapper Chuck D’s
presence on Story of Everything.
Alongside the many veterans —
none more impressive than Willie
Nelson on the bar-room lament
Lonely Alone — Sheryl reiterates
her versatility by involving younger
acts. New York band Lucius feature
on the Dusty Springfield-like Don’t
and St. Vincent duets on Wouldn’t
Want To Be Like You.
On track:
Taylor Swift
makes a strong
return, as
does Sheryl
Crow, inset
NATASHA
BEDINGFIELD:
Roll With Me
(We Are Here)
HER first album
in nine years is
a reminder of the versatility
that took Bedingfield to the top
of the British and American
charts. Produced by 4 Non
Blondes singer Linda Perry, it
starts well, with Kick It lifted
by sunny harmonies. But in
reiterating her adaptability,
it’s also uneven. Power
ballad Wishful Thinking is
overblown. Real Love,
which recalls Welsh singer
Duffy, is a tired soul pastiche.
★★★✩✩
CARAVAN
PALACE:
Chronologic
(MVPA)
PART of a
short-lived
electronic jazz scene when
they formed a decade ago in
Paris, Caravan Palace continue
to blend dance with brassy
swing in a novel fusion of Daft
Punk and Manhattan Transfer.
One of the surprise hits of the
UK summer festivals, the
French band — with
frontwoman Zoe Colotis a
potent presence — are now
adding disco and chilled-out
grooves to the mix.
★★★✩✩
THE S.L.P:
The S.L.P.
(Columbia)
SERGIO Lorenzo
Pizzorno has
often added
an edge to Kasabian’s
rabble-rousing indie-rock
and the guitarist’s exploratory
spirit is prominent on his
first side project. Nobody
Else begins as a jazzy
piano piece and develops
into breezy dance. As a
singer, Pizzorno lacks the
drive of Kasabian bandmate
Tom Meighan — but rapper
Little Simz adds zest
on Favourites. ★★★✩✩
AT
Korngold:
Symphony
In F Sharp
(Chandos
CHSA 5220)
JOHN WILSON
and the Sinfonia of London do
their best to persuade us that
the 1947-52 Symphony, by film
soundtrack composer Erich
Korngold, is a great work, but
I am unconvinced. Two
accompanying works from
1953, Theme & Variations and
Straussiana, were written for
youth orchestras and are
charming — beautifully played
and recorded. ★★★★✩
TULLY POTTER
Page 50
ff
(ff)
#1