music David Bowie - Blackstar Daughter - Not To Disappear Not To Disappear is a far more powerful, affecting and confident record than the London trio’s first effort, If You Leave. There’s a fresh, subtle aggression to the music in places (like the surging guitars and crunching drums on opener New Ways) and the franker lyrical approach makes the sentiments within even more capable of breaking your heart than before. Lead singer Elena Tonra is more poignantly present than ever and her suffering is an emotional outburst we can all find strength in. Panic! At The Disco - Death of a Bachelor Ten years after steamrolling into the mainstream and into the iPods of teenagers everywhere, the emo-glam show ponies have descended into the ever more bizarre musical fantasies of frontman Brendon Urie. He himself describes their fifth album as a mixture between Frank Sinatra and Queen, and amazingly he isn’t wrong. That means a little more glitzy polish intertwined with snarls of debauchery, particularly on standout Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time. The album doesn’t always work and smacks of a band trying too hard to carve its own wacky niche, but there are a few hidden gems here and there for the more casual fans. Prince - HITnRUN Phase Two At 57, Prince is not going quietly into that good night, firing out yet another album. You could argue he’s going through a ‘purple’ patch and has shaken off his creative malaise, as this album marries him with his classic funky essentials once again. Phase Two reunites Prince with backing band The New Power Generation and his craftsman’s way with a song. It’s much warmer than previous efforts thanks to analogue recording equipment and the desire to sing romantic lyrics rather than disdain and innuendo. His sense of melody has diminished slightly since his heyday and he’ll never hit those heights again, but fans will still enjoy this, no doubt. What’s the story? Blackstar is the 25th and final album from British icon David Bowie. Released on his 69th birthday, Bowie’s swan song shows him reinventing his sound once again, and, as fans were to find out just two days after its release, for the final time. Bowie hired New York jazz experts led by Donny McCaslin to complement the album, who recorded it unaware of Bowie’s declining health. It has since emerged in the wake of his passing that the singer had planned for the album to be his farewell, which becomes apparent in the dark lyrics that pre-empt his impending death. Worth a listen? Lead single Blackstar, with its doom-tinged elegance, multiple narrators and whiff of the occult, gives you a reasonable idea of what to expect: an oddity. Not a space one this time, but an eclectic mix from this most genius of musical minds. It’s the standout track by far. Its big band melodrama is welded to a frantic, drum n’ bass rhythm, its cacophonous climax reflecting the lyric’s murderous intent. Another highlight, Lazarus, is sung from the perspective of Newton, the homesick alien Bowie played in 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth, and who is also the subject of his new musical. Over a thick, skulking groove, he inhabits the woes of a man out of time, scarred and self-mutilated. This is a wonderful album, as sonically mournful and melancholy as the mentality of the legend’s fans who now know they won’t hear this magical voice produce more masterpieces. Verdict: A terrific record touched with tragedy. 76 February 2016 www.bahrainthismonth.com Shorts
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