Album Reviews

The Smiths – Complete £34.99: Dedicated Smiths fans should save up for this remastered collection. All four studio albums – The Smiths, Meat Is Murder, The Queen Is Dead, Strangeways, Here We Come – are included here, with Johnny Marr’s remastering providing a seamless exploration of their unique sound, along with live album Rank, and compilations Hatful Of Hollow, The World Won’t Listen and Louder Than Bombs. We’re left with a haunting tribute to the band that shaped the musical tastes of so many contemporary artists and reminds listeners of the incredible songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr. A great choice for newcomers and fans alike. SO’M

Nirvana – Nevermind 20th Anniversary Edition £12.99: Anniversary reissues are big business, and they don’t come much bigger than this. The customary double-disc deluxe edition boosts a wealth of unreleased nuggets – studio demos from April 1990 show how focused Kurt Cobain’s spontaneous-sounding arrangements were a good year before recording, while muddy boombox rehearsal tapes are strangely voyeuristic, but add little to the myth. Most interesting to the casual listener are the original B-sides, including six live cuts which act as a timely reminder of just how thrilling the trio were on stage. RG

James Morrison – The Awakening £12.99: While delivering the beautiful, soulful voice James Morrison is best known for, The Awakening doesn’t quite have the same emotional storytelling of his previous album Songs For You, Truths For Me. Up, a duet with Jessie J, beats his previous effort with Nelly Furtado hands-down and there are glimpses of his moving trademark style in the first single release Won’t Let You Go and Say Something Now. The album is still good, with Morrison’s voice as mesmerising as ever, but may take time to grow on you. Whether or not The Awakening is quite what you were expecting, give it a chance and it may well surprise you. EH

Wilco – The Whole Love £12.99: Often described as America’s Radiohead, mixing challenging, irreverent sounds with simple, beautiful melodies, the five-piece’s eighth album reflects this masterful tact perfectly. Art Of Almost opens the album with syncopated beats and dramatic strings underneath a melodic vocal by frontman Jeff Tweedy. Stayloose is a dreamy piano ballad, while Black Moon, with its whining slide guitar, gives a nod to the band’s early days. One Sunday Morning could be improved – but Wilco stand well above their peers and could even give Radiohead a run for their money. JG

Liszt – Piano Works (Piano Classics PCLD 0011 (2CDs) £13.99: It was the 1978 Leeds Piano Competition that launched winner Michel Dalberto on a remarkable international career. The first volume of a new Liszt Bicentenary Edition has two discs recorded by Dalberto in the early 1990’s, including the massive Variations on a theme by Bach; Italy viewed in the Annees de Pelerinage; the Dante Sonata and Benediction. A brilliant technique, rare musicianship and massive dynamic range that brings magical quiet passages, these are masterful performances. Natural and warm sound complete a superb release.DD

Bartok & Kodaly – Concertos for Orchestra (Retrospective Revival RETR0002) £7.99: Presently reissuing discs from the Collins Classical label, whose life was as spectacular as it was short, the disc’s clean and open sound reveals a wealth of colours in Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra. Recorded in the early 1990s, the London Symphony with Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos were in stunning form, the finale a riot of virtuosity. Kodaly’s Concerto, much shorter, and of a more genial disposition, receives a warm and perfectly paced reading. Remarkable value at budget price. DD

Sarah O’Meara, Rob Garratt, Elizabeth Herridge and Jamie Grierson (rock/pop), and David Denton (classical/opera).