ARTS: Records
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.ROCK
Depeche Mode: Songs of Faith & Devotion (Mute 106). Oh Basildon, so much to answer for. Through all their incarnations - Essex- boy pop stars, Berlin decadents, and now ponderous rock lizards hanging around the desert with Anton Corbijn - Depeche Mode's saving grace has been their lack of conviction. It was the gap between Dave Gahan's voice and the pretensions of a song like 'Personal Jesus' that made it affecting. Here, he sings more convincingly than ever, but the lyrics display an awful self-pitying rockstarness - 'The pain I've been subjected to . . . the countless feasts laid at my feet'. The keynote is doom- laden self-absorption, but there are brighter moments: 'Get Right with Me' has a Toys-R-Us gospel twang, and 'Judas' is a fine creepy pop song, like Erasure on Valium. Ben Thompson
David Baerwald: Triage (A&M 395 392-2). Now this is creepy. Imagine the Eagles' 'King of Hollywood' crossed with Robert De Niro's monologue from Taxi Driver, and you might have a clue to the effect of these strange songs. To Baerwald, once half of the slick LA duo David & David, the archetypes of modern America are Jeffrey Dahmer and David Koresh: psychopaths and sociopaths who impose their distorted reality on the innocent. Cheerless stuff, maybe, but a truer reflection than most, and set to imaginative art-rock arrangements which make telling use of newscast sound-bites. The album ends with the redemptive touch of what sounds very much like a love song. Highly recommended. Richard Williams
JAZZ
Elvin Jones: Youngblood (Enja ENJ-7051). The ageless hero of the John Coltrane Quartet stokes a percussive fire behind three outstanding young improvisers: trumpeter Nicholas Payton and tenorists Joshua Redman and Javon Jackson. George Mraz, the Czech bassist, lends experience to a well-programmed set. RW
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments