Happenings by Kasabian review - 'like an eager labradoodle pawing for attention'

Marc Almond: I’m Not Anyone (BMG) ***

The Joy Hotel: Ceremony (SO Recordngs) ****

Ari Tsugi: Simultaneity (Rebecca’s Records) ****

Kasabian were rocked but not routed by the sacking of frontman Tom Meighan in 2020. Publicly at least, they were quick off the mark in dispensing with his services following his conviction for assaulting his partner and install chief songwriter Serge Pizzorno as singer. Their second album fronted by Pizzorno has a similarly decisive quality, clocking in at under thirty minutes – one minute less than The Ramones’ debut, notes Pizzorno.

Unlike the heat-seeking rawness of The Ramones, however, Happenings ranges in eclectic, some might say attention-deficit style “from the dancefloor to the moshpit” with tracks rigorously edited to introduce a hook every eight bars, like an eager labradoodle pawing for attention.

Following a filmic intro, Darkest Lullaby is a strong opening shot of indie psych soul, with disco strings and Giorgio Moroder-style synth arpeggios. The darker, more industrial Call is a more typical Kasabian banger along with the fidgety electro punk of How Far Will You Go and skittering techno rock track Hell Of It.

The mildly proggy G.O.A.T. was conceived as their Rocky montage music, while the peppy Italian Horror is their tribute to the heady pop soundtracks of Seventies giallo film. Bird In A Cage is more a collection of sonic ideas than a song and one suspects that the simplicity of Algorithms with its Oasis-like sentiment that “we’re not here for a long time, just here for a good time” will be the one to cut through with the crowd.

Marc Almond knows how to sell a tune and has been acing cover versions from his debut Soft Cell hit Tainted Love via his charttopping Gene Pitney duet, Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, to the more esoteric likes of his Heart on Snow and Orpheus In Exile albums, interpreting the works of Russian songwriters.

His latest solo outing is another collection of covers, chosen for their autobiographical resonance, and it’s a mixed bag. There is not much he can add to Marmalade’s Reflections of My Life nor to Smokey Day by the magnificent Colin Blunstone, but he is right at home with the Sixties melodrama of Gone With The Wind (Is My Love) by Canadian girl group The Tiaras, followed up with the dreamy melancholia of King Crimson’s I Talk to the Wind. The orchestral easy listening of Bob Lind’s Elusive Butterfly is also right in his lane, as is the belting baroque pop of the title track by Paul Anka and Sammy Davis Jr.

Glaswegian septet The Joy Hotel arrive fully formed with their debut album, Ceremony, a diverse suite of songs recorded live to tape and delivered with verve and assurance. Front and centre are the evident talents of two great vocalists, Emme Woods and Luke Boyce, whether firing intimately on the husky indie torch song Small Mercy or duetting richly on the luscious likes of While You’re Young with its George Harrison-style guitar embellishment. Elsewhere on this effortlessly impressive calling card, Tex Mex flavours are subtly mixed in to the soul pop of I Decline, Forever Tender Blue is a smooth taste of Glasville, while Jeremiah is a triumph in tremolo.

Glasgow-based international combo Ari Tsugi are another band who know where they are going, even if the route is subconsciously scenic. Their debut outing, Simultaneity, is a journey through the seasons as conceived by the core trio of bassist Clement Gaud, drummer Joe Weisberg and guitarist/vocalist Mashu Harada and decorated with the inspired contributions of guest vocalist India Blue, trombonist Liam Shortall and saxophonist Mateusz Sobieski, ranging from the swirling psychedelics of Mezame to the exultant fusion jazz of the title track.

CLASSICAL

Conversation – Gaspard Le Roux: Suites for 2 Harpsichords (Harmonia mundi) ****

If, as Sir Thomas Beecham famously put it, the sound of the harpsichord is “like two skeletons copulating on a tin roof”, then two playing in concert must be a veritable orgy. And while there’s certainly a sense of wild adventure in this feast of French Baroque music for two harpsichords, with five of Gaspard Le Roux’s swashbuckling Suites as its spinal column, give credit to performers Justin Taylor and William Christie that out of such a duelling, quasi-improvisatory quagmire emerges plenty of that especial French 18th century penchant for “le bon goût”. It helps, too, that Christie and Taylor intersperse the Le Roux with brief but essential palate cleansers by Lully, Marais and Couperin; and that their animated playing combines individuality of character with robust, exemplary synergy. Danger lurks but never conquers. Good taste prevails. Ken Walton

JAZZ

Elaine Delmar: Speak Low (Ubuntu Music) ****

Elaine Delmar, Vocalist of the Year in the 2023 Parliamentary Jazz Awards, presents this warmly affectionate selection of songs from her distinguished five-decade career, impeccably accompanied by pianist Barry Green, guitarist Jim Mullen and double bassist Simon Thorpe. Delmar confides these songs with affecting intimacy – listen to the opening Stars, couched in Green’s sensitive piano accompaniment – or infectious vivacity, as in the Rodgers and Hammerstein number It Might As Well Be Spring, further invigorated by Mullen. Guest flute from Andy Pananyi threads sensuously through the Weill-Nash title song while Delmar takes the Michael Bublé number Close Your Eyes for a quiet stroll with Thorpe’s double bass. There’s further convincing intimacy over piano in Send in the Clowns and with empathetic accompaniment from Mullen and Green in I Won’t Last a Day Without you. Jim Gilchrist