STACK #200 Jun 2021

MUSIC REVIEWS

visit stack.com.au

The Avalanches Since I Left You (20th Anniversary Edition)

The Datsuns Eye To Eye

The Datsuns were perfectly named. They were last year’s model, a band that celebrated rock’s glory days, delivering driving rock that made you want to turn up the tape player and pound the dash. In the early 2000s, the New Zealanders were at the forefront of the New Rock movement, landing on the cover of NME , touring with Metallica and making an album with Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones. In 2021, rock is no longer a buzzword, but The Datsuns don’t seem to mind. Their seventh album – their first in seven years – is a potent mix of garage, grunge and glam. They have a knack for making a song sound epic – even when it clocks in under three minutes. It may no longer be fashionable, but The Datsuns wear it well. (Hellsquad/MGM) Jeff Jenkins

The Avalanches’ debut was the first great album of the new millennium. The ultimate mix tape, a sonic adventure, a thrilling concoction of dance, electronic and hip hop grooves, with reputedly the most samples ever cleared for one album. It was so damn great, it took The Avalanches 16 years to follow it. Now, as it turns 21, the album still sounds way ahead of its time. And the band’s gift is a quadruple vinyl 20th anniversary edition featuring the original 18-song collection plus 15 bonus tracks, including nine previously unreleased remixes. Two decades on, Since I Left You still delivers something new with each listen. It remains the soundtrack to the coolest party you’re ever going to have. (EMI/Universal) Jeff Jenkins

Crowded House Dreamers Are Waiting

The House has been renovated. And a mate of mine wasn’t happy when he saw the new Crowded House line-up – Neil Finn and Nick Seymour joined by Neil’s sons, Liam and Elroy, and the band’s first producer, Mitchell Froom. My mate tweeted: “This is the equivalent of Paul and Ringo getting George Martin

and a couple of Paul’s kids and going out calling themselves The Beatles. They would never be The Beatles! This will never be Crowded House.” That might have been a slight over-reaction. Neil Finn’s marvellous melodies have always been at the heart of this band, and a few small repairs doesn’t mean a demolition. The new band was to have made its live debut at last year’s Bluesfest, but then, of course, the world changed. Neil Finn sings of “the world returning” on the band’s first album in 11 years, a record that finds him going “a little deeper down”, where “goodness is a curse”. And though he eschews obvious pop hits for darker fare, the result is a grower, with surprising earworms. No, this is not the Crowded House we fell in love with in the ’80s, though as Neil Finn notes, it was “never my intention to create a legend”. Instead, he remains a master craftsman and an artist not afraid of shaking things up. It is, as he sings, “the start of something”. (EMI/Universal) Jeff Jenkins

Norah Jones 'Til We Meet Again In 1993, Blue Note Records passed on signing Eva Cassidy due to her unwillingness to narrow her stylistic focus to one genre. To Eva, jazz, folk, country, R&B, soul, blues, and pop were simply 'music'. Fast forward to 2001, and Norah Jones – who shared Eva's fearless determination to forge her own path – is signed to Blue Note Records. Her 2002 debut album Come Away With Me has now sold more than 27 million copies. Following six subsequent studio albums, Norah has released her first live recordings spanning her entire career. Among her best known songs is a stunning solo piano performance of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun , her tribute to Chris Cornell recorded shortly after his death.

Nina Simone and Etta James The Montreaux Years Since its inception in 1967, the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival has played host to musicians of every imaginable music style. For the first time, performances by a number of the world's most iconic artists – which include never before released recordings – are now available. This initial Montreux release features Nina Simone bringing to life her best known recording My Baby Just Cares For Me , in addition to interpretations of Janis Ian's Stars and Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry . Meanwhile, Etta James' set includes inspired versions of Trust In Me and At Last. (BMG) Billy Pinnell

Moby Reprise Firstly, let’s commend Moby for exhibiting exemplary taste by reaching out to our very own Alice Skye and inviting her to supply guest vocals on this intoxicating version of The Great Escape ; always knew he had a good ear. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” (thanks Keats) and you’d be hard-pressed to find compositions of such exquisite, bittersweet beauty

as Moby’s Natural Blues (“Don’t nobody know my troubles but God...”), Porcelain (“In my dreams I’m dying all the time...”) and Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? – just a handful of the highlights from Moby’s illustrious 30- year career that he gloriously re-envisioned with the Budapest Art Orchestra for Reprise . This collection was inspired by Moby’s first-ever classical collaboration with conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which took place at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in October, 2018. Elsewhere on Reprise , the Twin Peaks -sampling Go is given a ravetastic, percussion-heavy, tribal glow-up that evokes Leftfield’s Afro Left (need to hear this orchestral treatment live ASAP!) and the shimmering majesty of God Moving Over The Face Of The Waters – in the hands of majestic Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, plus transportive string section – is an incandescent bliss-bomb. Moby’s wistful, insightful lyricism is further enhanced by new voices; especially the gravelly, world-weary pipes of Kris Kristofferson on The Lonely Night . Reprise is the ultimate comedown soundtrack. (Deutsche Grammophon) Bryget Chrisfield

(Blue Note) Billy Pinnell

20 JUNE 2021

jbhifi.com.au