'64-'95

Lemon Jelly (album)

Lemon Jelly are one of those bands who are very, very good at what they do. The problem is, half the time they seem intent on letting you know just how clever they are, with their chilled out songs that go on forever and daft lyrics (“All the ducks are swimming in the water”, anyone?). It’s one thing to do something well, it’s quite another to ram it down people’s throats. Well, that’s how things used to be anyway. ’64-’95 is much better than I expected and that’s despite the fact that the first two singles off it have been great. Let’s face it, if I can like a song that samples Gallagher and Lyle somebody’s got to be doing something right. The idea’s quite simple, really. You grab a handful of obscure(ish) records, you sample them, make new tunes out of what’s left and then you name each track after the year in which the original came out, so for example, The Shouty Track becomes ’79 a.k.a. The Shouty Track. Easy, innit? Hold your horses sunshine, it’s not, if it was everybody would be doing it. For the most part, the general mood remains fairly mellow and chilled out, but for some reason the songs work better on this album than they did on Lost Horizons. It’s not all quiet and relaxing, mind. After three reasonably quiet tracks, ’95 a.k.a. Make Things Right suddenly cuts out as The Shouty Track takes over proceedings and even the very first track (’88 a.k.a. Come Down On Me) is more mental than anything you’d usually associate these chaps with. In fact, at times, the only way you’d recognise that this was Lemon Jelly was by the familiar drum loops that only they seem to like using. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing, it shows they’re not only clever, they also want to keep trying new things and pushing themselves. And if you think this is good, wait until you see the DVD of the album, the songs and the videos complement each other so well it’s amazing. After Lost Horizons, I wasn’t looking forward to Lemon Jelly’s next album at all. After this, I can’t wait for the next one - I think that represents progress or something.

KRAFTY

New Order

I find it hard to believe than in one form or another, New Order have been going for the best part of thirty years. Still, there you go. It’s nice to know that they’ve re-embraced modern technology after the guitar festival that was Get Ready, but where Get Ready was preceded by Crystal (a musical equivalent of taking the pin off a hand grenade and chucking it into a disco), Krafty is a far tamer lead-in to Waiting For The Sirens Call. That’s not to say it’s bad, oh no. All the right ingredients are in place for a classic New Order song – the bass played by Hooky, the not quite brilliant lyrics sung by Bernard Sumner, the impression you get that Stephen Morris is going fifty to the dozen bashing away at his drum kit and the implausibly long instrumental break. It sounds a bit like Technique mixed with Get Ready, very electronic but also a bit rough around the edges. It may not be cutting edge, but to be honest, when you’re responsible for songs like Blue Monday and True Faith (and Confusion, but let’s skip that for now, think about the others instead) you shouldn’t really have much more to prove to the world anyway. Even a New Order song that is merely good is far better than anything Will Young’s ever done, so the fact that this is very good means they’ve still got it as far as I’m concerned.

LIFT ME UP

Moby

Wow. This is a world away from Play and 18 – thank Heavens. No sampling, just Moby singing (I think that’s what it’s called) over a fast-paced tune with guitars and strings and stuff. In short, he’s gone and done a proper song for a change and it’s a massive step forward from Play and the whole you-need-to-own-this-because-everyone-else-does business that sprang up around it. I never thought I’d say it again – Moby’s done a decent single!