Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Greendale
Reprise
Tagged as a "musical novel" rather than an "album," Neil Young's 11th collaboration with Crazy Horse, Greendale, sees the Canadian folk-rocker and his on/off side kicks brewing up a heap of well-meaning, yet at times all too apathetic riffs.
The concept album takes its name from a fictional northern California town and tells the story of Grandpa Green, an irritable old man who finds himself in the spotlight after his nephew Jed shoots a policeman.
Grandpa suffers a fatal heart attack while fending off the unwanted advances of a reporter and his death prompts his grand daughter, Sun, to become an eco-warrior. The story comes to an end a whopping 78 minutes later, when, under constant FBI surveillance Sun is forced to leave the town of Greendale.
Like all of Young's best works the guitar-driven material on Greendale deals with age, death, love and the environment. Unlike many of his previous musical alliances with Crazy Horse his latest album is void of long sustained bouts of feedback, distortion pedal mayhem and gnarly vocals.
Compared to classic Young and Crazy Horse albums such as Ragged Glory and Broken Arrow, Greendale is a rather limp-wristed affair. And while there is a modest charm to Greendale, the meandering numbers, nearly all of which are nine minutes long, are far from Young's finest moments. While hardcore fans will, no doubt, find the album faultless, those unprepared for Young's melancholy and self-absorbed moments could find Greendale a good cure for insomnia.
Junior Senior
D-d-don't Don't Stop the Beat
Atlantic
After the runaway success of the Danish dance duo's catchy summer hit, Move Your Feet, Junior Senior returns to record store shelves with its first full-length release.
Incorporating a crazy mixture of no-holds-barred sounds and a crazier assortment of lyrics, Junior Senior's debut D-d-don't Don't Stop the Beat has everything any dance floor devotee could hope for and then some.
Banality, crudity, foot tapping beats and kitsch hooks, 1980s style, are the order of the day as Junior Senior sets out to impress with its odd-ball and addictive blend of glam-rock guitar, funky bass licks, ecstasy soaked dance melodies and happy-go-lucky chic.
The duo's recent hit single may have been a flawlessly produced studio affair, but there's a garage edge to some of the material on the album. And, while sounding nauseating initially, the lo-fi 1960s psychedelia garage effects work quite well, giving inane and pulsating dance numbers such as Chicks and Deeks, Good Boy Bad Girl and Shake Your Coconuts even more clout.
D-d-don't Don't Stop the Beat is not solely a banal smut-riddled dance music affair, however. The duo's Shake Me Baby is a real gem of a tune that dances precariously on the peripherals of mainstream and alt-rock. The Danes have concocted a true masterpiece of modern music by blending the seemingly off beat combination of buzzsaw guitar, The Monkees and Bob Dylan with an acid-laced psychedelic pop rhythm.
Terry Hall and Mushtaq
The Hour of Two Lights
Honest Jon
Terry Hall, along with his flat and detached vocals, shot to stardom in the UK in the late 1970s as a frontman for the ska-revival group, The Specials. While Hall's monotone vocal style and left wing political leanings ensured Special's tunes such as Nite Klub and Too Much Too Young were hugely popular, nearly all of his later projects have proven extremely forgettable.
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