STACK #136 Feb 2016

REVIEWS MUSIC

The Jezabels Synthia After getting the difficult second album out of the way, The Jezabels have reunited with Prisoner producer Lachlan Mitchell to deliver their third album, which sparkles and shines like their debut. Fronted by Hayley Mary – a potent mix of Kate Bush, Debbie Harry and Cyndi Lauper – The Jezabels have a knack for sounding both epic and intimate. Plenty of highlights here, with the album bookended by two songs clocking in at more than seven minutes – Stand and Deliver and Stamina – while My Love Is A Disease is like a downbeat rewrite of Endless Summer , and Smile is darkly sensual and grand. (MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Lucinda Williams The Ghosts of Highway 20 Highway 20 (aka Interstate 20) is a stretch of road that runs from West Texas to Florence, South Carolina, and it's the common thread connecting most of the songs on Lucinda Williams' 12th album. In her nearly four-decade career she has previously written about this part of the world, but now adds more memories and experiences of places and people who have lived along the way. Williams also revives the words of Woody Guthrie on House of Earth and reinterprets Springsteen’s Factory , with two of the finest guitarists (Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz) by her side, caressing and carrying her exceptional words and

Henry Wagons After What I Did Last Night...

Henry Wagons is a weird cat. Justin Townes Earle reckons he’s like “Dr Seuss meets Conway Twitty, strutting like a Tennessee Walking Horse on PCP.” Wagons has teamed up with Earle’s producer, Skylar Wilson, in Nashville, for his first solo album. A mix of Waylon and Willie with a touch of Warren

Zevon, Wagons is a larger-than-life character, which is not always a good thing in the music world as often the reality doesn’t match the myth. But on this record he’s not just playing the outlaw country crooner with a love for Vegas. After What I Did Last Night… works because Wagons is such a good singer – his sonorous tone is a delight – and he’s also letting the listener in on enough of his personal story, taking his audience along for the ride. He addresses his upbringing and shows a vulnerable side in Only Child : “I lived alone and I played alone,” he reveals, “so please stay.” And he manages to follow a touching ode to fatherhood, As Long As I Breathe – “I have a baby girl and she smiles!” – with a song called Only Sane Mother F. Yep, Henry Wagons is a weird cat. And he’s a star. (ABC/Universal) Jeff Jenkins

whiskey-soaked vocals. (Highway 20/ThirtyTigers) Denise Hylands

MUSIC

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Anthrax For All Kings

Pantera The Complete Studio Albums: 1990 - 2000 Whether you consider Pantera torchbearers for heavy metal or a band that successfully navigated trends, there’s no denying their impact during the '90s. The Complete Studio Albums: 1990-2000 demonstrates not only how, but also confirms why they are held in such high regard today. While I am partial to the era that spawned Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display Of Power , it’s interesting to hear how Pantera developed over the years, eventually returning to their traditional metal roots on their final album Reinventing The Steel . Available in 5-CD set or limited edition coloured vinyl boxset with a bonus 7”. (Warner) Simon Lukic

Buddy Miller & Friends Cayamo Sessions At Sea Buddy Miller is an amazingly talented award-winning guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and current Music Producer of the TV show Nashville . Besides releasing nine solo albums, he has collaborated with many. Cayamo is a music cruise that sails the seas hosting some of the best in Americana music; these sessions came from Miller setting up a studio on-board in 2014 and 2015, and taking the opportunity to capture special one-off performances from artists such as Lucinda Williams, Richard Thompson, Nikki Lane, Kris Kristofferson and others. What a wonderful start to the music year.

Sal Kimber and the Rollin' Wheel Southern Light “Come the dark, come the dark, the dead of night,” so starts Sal Kimber’s third album, and the record concludes with the singer-songwriter declaring: “Just have faith in what will come.” Southern Light is as good as any Americana album you’ll hear this year, featuring nine vignettes, each exquisitely produced by Shane O’Mara. Punctuated with vivid imagery, darkness creeps into every song, but the album is never bleak. In just two simple lines, Kimber brilliantly depicts the difficulties of love: “And I was always waiting for you to come find me/ And you were always waiting for me to come home.” (Vitamin) Jeff Jenkins

Listening to For All Kings made me wonder what Anthrax could have achieved had they never fired vocalist Joey Belladonna back in 1992. They recorded four studio albums with John Bush, but Belladonna proves here – on his first proper album back with the band – that he is more than just a throwback to the '80s. The band themselves seem to have realised this, delivering their most traditional heavy metal performance in years. It’s not thrash metal, but the songs have crater-sized hooks, tight, punchy rhythms and that patented Anthrax stomp so crucial to their sound. (Nuclear Blast/Caroline) Simon Lukic

"Catch of the Day." (NewWest Records) Denise Hylands

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