INTERPOL - "Our Love To Admire"

I had trouble with the first couple of times i played this, i even didn't listen to it for over a week and then i told myself, 'hey, i used to really like Interpol, i can't dismiss them without giving them another chance...' - i've been rewarded, it might not work for everybody, but after 6/7 plays i honestly think that this album is great, from start to finish (it does tails off a bit towards the end) its an entirely satisfying grand listening, tons of melodies like cascades will leave you amazed if you can focus on the details. There's an oboe (!?) in the majestic opener "Pioneer To The Falls", there are the usual beautiful guitar fireworks of Mr Daniel Kessler, and there is Paul Banks voice, never as powerful and clear as now and even in the lyrics he's putting himself on the pedestal (especially in the wonderfully titled "No I In Threesome"). The sound is tighter probably thanks to hundreds of concerts all over the world and a producer (Rich Costey) that cleaned a bit their "foggy" sound to give the drums a neat metallic beat reminescent of Martin Hannet's production for Joy Division.
Even first single "The Heinrich Maneuver", which i considered 'weak' on first impression, its gonna get gelled to your brain like glue ("cause today my heart swings...") as much as the incredible sequence of "Mammoth", "Pace Is The Trick", "All Fired Up" and "Rest My Chemistry", upbeat adventures in sound, giant choruses and melancholy transformed in something extremely uplifting.
If there's a band you want to see live, don't look any further...

8/10

PRINCE - "Planet Earth"

"3121" was a welcome return to form for Mr Roger Nelson, a deeply funky vibed record that you could/can enjoy even without paying too much attention to it; "Planet Earth" is a bit different, starting with mellow piano chords the title track is a six minute piece that might puzzles you at first with its weird guitar riffs and changes of rhythm, not a catchy start but a grower. Following song and first single "Guitar" plays safe (almost too safe) by basically being an almost exact copy of "Girls & Boys", its as our hero is saying to his longterm fans, "everybody listen up, you have to buy my new album, it sounds like vintage me!!!!".
After "Guitar" drifts by that's when the album begins to make sense with the slow paced "Somewhere Here On Earth" with falsetto vocals, muted trumpet and a jazzy atmosphere not far from "Adore" off "Sign O The Times", very nice indeed, as much as "The One U Wanna C", Prince at his most country & western (!) with a bass guitar that's trying to come out of your speakers... "Future Baby Mama" and "Mr Goodnight" are smooth slices of soul music that only in Prince hands can fly dangerously close to Planet Cheesy without ever landing on it.
"Chelsea Rodgers" is the funkiest, James Brownish track of the lot, a contagious tune you'll simply cannot escape; when "Lion of Judah" begins another huge flashback lays its weight on you like those memories you won't/can't forget, the first three seconds sounds like the "Purple Rain" intro with its minor chord guitar that soon, after you slowly catch your breath, evolves in a pleasant pop melody.
"Resolution" ends the album on a positive note with an optimistic lyric about "we the people", something that Curtis Mayfield would have been proud of. Love it or hate it, the artist back to be named Prince after he was formerly known as Prince has done it again, this record is another brilliant collection of songs, it might not save Planet Earth, but it will uplift a few million souls all over the globe.
I'm one of them.

8/10

3 X 7

THE STRANGE DEATH OF LIBERAL ENGLAND - "Forward March"
JOSH ROUSE - "Country Mouse City House"
SOUTHERLY - "Storyteller & The Gossip Columnist"