Pop music
Looking good
Marcus Berkmann
Apologies for a brief interruption in normal service last month, when by tradi- tion I should have supplied my usual Yule- tide lists of the best and most overrated albums of the year, but I was momentarily distracted and so wrote about something else instead. Already 1997 seems long ago, as does the time of the year in which you can read the word 'Yuletide' in a piece without wanting to punch someone hard in the face. Everyone seems agreed that it was a strong year for new releases, although any year in which a record as beautiful and fully achieved as Prefab Sprout's Androme- da Heights (Columbia/Kitchenware) could be so shamefully neglected can't have had that much to shout about.
Fortunately, 1998 has started more promisingly, with a handful of new releases that compare with anything we heard last year. Actually, I spent most of last year lis- tening to Nick Lowe's 1994 masterpiece and I don't think that is a frivolous use of the word — The Impossible Bird (Demon), and wondering when he was going to get round to recording a follow-up. Barely ten seconds into the new year a CD came through the door, its cover showing the famed Lowe beak in unmistakable silhou- ette. Dig My Mood (Demon) is that follow- up and more: a progression that marks Lowe out as one of the most considerable singer-songwriters of the age, and a late developer (he turns 49 in March) to inspire us all.
Lowe is best known for co-founding Stiff Records, playing bass in Rockpile, produc- ing most of Elvis Costello's early albums and for striking lucky with a few hit singles of his own CI Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass', 'Cruel To Be Kind') in the late 1970s. It has been an eclectic and, frankly, variable career, which seemed to have fiz- zled out completely in the early 1990s with a couple of dismally under-produced recordings which even his close relatives would have struggled to listen to more than once. The Impossible Bird represented a fundamental rethink. Cutting the instru- mentation back to the bare minimum, and pushing his voice as far up in the mix as the human ear could probably stand, Lowe constructed an intimate and quietly intense album full of memorable songs. Dig My Mood increases the range a little, with hints of late-night jazz on a couple of tracks and an impressive Boz Scaggs impersonation on `Freezing'. But the basic template is the same. Lowe's writing remains rooted in pop tradition, mixing in country and blues and 1950s rock 'n' roll and anything else he has been listening to. I am wary of over- praising an album whose appeal is so com- pletely straightforward; for some listeners it may just be too straightforward. But it must be hard work to make recording sound as effortless as this. And with 12 songs adding up to just 38 minutes, there isn't an ounce of fat on it either.
The High Llamas's Cold And Bouncy (V2/Alpaca) has already attracted a bilious reaction in the Sunday Telegraph from Mr James Delingpole, who said that he hated all those bands who sounded a bit like Steely Dan. He is, of course, entitled to his opinion, even if it's wrong. The Llamas, as I suppose someone or other must have called them by now, purvey a strange sort of 1960s-influenced pop, with strong echoes of The Beach Boys, Burt Bacharach and even John Barry in bursts, as well as the aforementioned Becker and Fagen. It's not the most commercial formula in 1990s Britain: more than half the tracks are instrumentals and virtually the whole record is covered with odd synthesised bleeps and burps nicked from old Kraftwerk albums. But don't be put off: songwriter Sean O'Hagan has a wonderful quirky way with a tune, and his arrange- ments become more seductive with each album. Support him now, before he gives up in disgust and goes off to make a for- tune writing soundtracks for dull Holly- wood films.
Finally, one that undeservedly fell off the end of 1997. Idha is a young Swedish singer-songwriter with good connections (a contract with Oasis's record label, and a recording budget to match) and a taste for lush, bittersweet pop with indie overtones. While she hasn't quite got the voice or the Now pay attention 007! Here we have the latest in ballistics technology. It's a pen that's shaped exactly like a gun.' phrasing to carry off her more ambitious ideas, Troublemaker (Creation) is fresh and appealing, with a handful of songs that might have been hit singles a decade or two ago. If she ever makes it, it will have to be with a record much worse than this
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