The best album I’ve listened to this week is ‘Hurricane’ by Grace Jones. It’s in the shops on Monday. Snow Patrol and The Cure are a bit so-so. Micah P. Hinson played a storming gig on Thursday.

Album Of The Week: Grace Jones ‘Hurricane’

Grace Jones, the queen of super slick Disco, has got a new album out. ‘Hurricane’ has got its flaws, mainly the weak standard of songwriting, but it sounds smooth like hot buttered popcorn. My favourites are ‘Well Well Well’, ‘Love You To Life’ and ‘Sunset Sunrise’.

‘Well Well Well’ is Jones doing this polished Reggae groove that nobody else ever nailed down quite like her. On ‘Love You To Life’ there’s more of the same but with the addition of a Trancey chorus. ‘Sunset Sunrise, finally, is a Balearic Disco classic in the making. The Glockenspiel and deep, spoken word vocals make this a perfect sunset/sunrise tune with a definite Ibiza touch.

For a full track-by-track run down of ‘Hurricane’ plus MP3 download and CD mailorder links, please see our review next Monday.

On a totally different energy level, Texan singer-songwriter Micah P. Hinson unleashed the beast on stage at Dublin’s Crawdaddy last night. On record, Micah is a quiet guy. Live, he shouts, curses, lashes out at his guitars and seems to run on pent up aggression that’s barely contained within his skinny frame. If you like to see an artist who doesn’t just go through the motions, check Micah out when he’s next in town.

You might want to download some new songs by The Cure or Snow Patrol, but their new albums are hardly worth listening to in their entirety. I’d say there are only about four good tracks on each album. See which ones I’d recommend below.

#2: Snow Patrol ‘A Hundred Million Suns’
Snow Patrol have carved out a sizeable niche for themselves next to bands like Coldplay and Keane, playing soft, ever so slightly bombastic stadium rock. On ‘A Hundred Million Suns’, their fifth album to date, they show that they can do more.

Lo and behold, the usually fairly dour Snow Patrol can do knees-up 70’s Rock. Either glammed up as on ‘Engines’ or with a Boogie groove as on the single ‘Take Back The City’. Easily the most fun tunes I’ve heard being played by Snow Patrol so far. Think Stealers Wheel for ‘Take Back The City’ and Mott The Hoople or early David Bowie for ‘Engines’.

Watch Snow Patrol Play ‘Take Back The City’ Unplugged

Wait, there’s more. At a few points on this album, Snow Patrol drop their guitar based sound for a much more ambient, almost minimalist approach. Check out the trashy hand claps on ‘The Golden Floor’ or the subtle beauty of ‘The Lightning Strike’. On ‘Lifeboats’, the band combines this new Ambient streak with a mellow Manchester groove.

If you look beyond these five tracks, you’re catapulted back onto tried and tested Snow Patrol territory. I’m not too pushed on the rest of the album, I have to say. It’s one of these albums where you’re better off just downloading a few favourites.

You can listen to ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ here and download the album from iTunes UK.

US Readers - Buy Snow Patrol’s New Album On CD Here!

UK And Ireland Readers - Buy ‘A Hundred Million Suns’ On CD And Vinyl Here!

#3: The Cure ‘4:13 Dream’
Same for The Cure’s new album. Download a few favourites and skip the rest.

Start with ‘The Reasons Why’ as an intro to the album. If the band references any of its earlier periods, its the ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ period. Then the music becomes a bit more swirly and the vocals more swooning, like on ‘This Here And Now, With You’. Otherwise it’s pretty much straight rock in an early U2 kind of way.

The Cure prepared the ground for the album by releasing four singles since May of this year. I have to say, that the single ‘Freakshow’ is still the strongest track on the album. There’s a touch of the Happy Monday’s rhythmic hedonism about it. It’s probably as close to ‘wild abandon’ as The Cure will ever get.

Watch The Cure Perform ‘Freakshow’ Live

Did you ever imagine Cure frontman Robert Smith leading a Glam Rock revival band? No? Listen to ‘The Real Snow White’. It’s blue collar glam a la Mott The Hoople mixed with a bit of Oasis. An unlikely combination, but quite funny.

If you consider Coldplay or, at a stretch, Radiohead, as the contemporary equivalent to The Cure, it’s interesting how far removed The Cure’s sound is at this stage. The Cure really haven’t made any concessions to music fashion. At the same time, they don’t come on like an 80’s revival band either.

‘4:13 Dream’ is not exactly a must have album. It’s well played, there are some decent songs on it, but nothing you haven’t heard before.

You can listen to ‘4:13 Dream’ here and download the album from iTunes UK.

US Readers - Buy The Cure’s New Album On CD And Vinyl Here!

UK And Ireland Readers - Buy ‘4:13 Dream’ On CD And Vinyl Here!