Reviews of The Affection, Grace Jones, Enrique Iglesias and Paul Weller

By Jade Wright on Nov 21, 08 03:49 PM

The Affection - Derelict/Bermuda

Crisp, bright and stripped of any hype or nonsense, this is the sound of young Northern lads, and showing certain lost-touch-and-overconfident-megastars how to make authentic and relevant music. Reminds me of The White Dice, Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke's pre-Smiths band, and I don't say that lightly. 4/5 By Rikki Wright

Grace Jones - Hurricane

Amazing Grace, musician, supermodel, actress and style icon is back, and at 60, she is undiminished. With fiercely edgy and intelligent lyrics, uniquely lovely, better than ever vocals, and gloriously melodious instrumentation, all lit up by her devastating charisma, Hurricane is a cultural event, a staggeringly beautiful and inventive album, which captures the sheer primal spirit of the irresistible force of Nature that is Grace Jones. Wonderful stuff! 4/5 By Rikki Wright

Enrique Iglesias - Away

Warbly emotional Latin pop from Mr. Smouldering Eyecandy. Recently featured in a 'Fit but s**t' poll, Enrique ticks lots of boxes for lots of people, but away from all that schmazzle, it's not a bad song, it's just overproduced, and oversweetened. For all we know, there might be a serious musician trapped behind the looking glass, but we'll probably never find out, as long as his pretty face is all that anyone is interested in. 3/5
By Rikki Wright

Paul Weller Sea Spray/22 Dreams/Have You Made Up Your Mind

Weller's vocal seems to have drifted into rather goatbleatish and tuneless territory, or maybe it was always like that, but the strength of the songs disguised it before now?
The acoustic Have You Made Up Your Mind is the best of the three tracks, but even so it's not all that special, no more than alright, really, and 22 Dreams is a bit drab, while Sea Spray's not really a boatfloater, for me. 3/5 By Rikki Wright