The Cure: The Cure (Universal)
As a long-time Cure fan I was understandably excited when the new album by Robert Smith and company — the first since 1999’s “last” Cure album, Bloodflowers — landed on my desk. So there was track one, Lost, blaring from the speakers, with Smith agonisingly shouting how he can’t find himself, over and over, with the grungy, guitar-heavy music shambling along. Oops, I thought, I wish he were lost no more. Then came Labyrinth — thankfully a turn for the better with an emotional rock attack, vocals slightly distorted … but it drags on a bit. Before Three and The End of the World deliver classic Cure magic, but the album also spits up the noisy paranoia of Us or Them (“I don’t want you anywhere near me” — fine by me), the bland lack of structure of Never and the seemingly endless, self-pitying 10 minutes of The Promise (so she hurt you, bro, get over it). There are kids’ drawings on the sleeve (by Smith’s nephews and nieces), but one would have expected a more mature sound from Smith. The last track is Going Nowhere — prophetic words, perhaps? — Riaan Wolmarans
Paul Hanmer: Water + Lights (Sheer)
Hanmer’s new offering is a shimmering concoction of cyclical piano phrasing and tender brass interplay that catches the listener in an eddy of sound. The album surges like a river, bass and piano currents unravelling and then crashing back into each other, creating swells of rhythm across which blow the understated gusts of the brass breeze. Water + Lights sees the return of Basi Mahlasela whose illuminating percussion glues together the album’s blend of African and urban sound. Once again Hanmer has returned to his musical past, refurbishing some of his older material. Hymn for the Ballies dates back to 1994’s Primal Steps, which Hanmer released as part of the group Unofficial Language. Neli Walking sees the Unofficial Language trio reunited in a cascade of rhythm. Oxtinato, originally featured on Hanmer’s 1998 album Window to Elsewhere, finds itself reinvented with guitar virtuoso Louis Mhlanga as well as long-time Hanmer collaborator McCoy Mrubatha on soprano saxophone. Trumpeter Marcus Wyatt — whose solo album Africans in Space, caused quite a stir — adds his famous big and warm tone to tracks such as Bwanana Republic and Nowundzen. Wyatt also stars on the album’s 10-minute epic closing track, Meanderthal Man. Only time will tell, but Water + Lights might just be the best Hanmer album thus far. — Lloyd Gedye
Kool & the Gang: The Hits: Reloaded (Gallo)
There are two versions of Ladies Night on this reworking of funk’s favourite uncles. The double extravaganza kicks off with Atomic Kitten doing Ladies Night and it’s got everything you loved about the disco girl groups of yore. On CD two the same track arrives, now yacked up by ska rapper Sean Paul and Jamaican Spanner Banner in a sort of bump-and-grind thing that adds absolutely nothing to the Kool gang’s pristine refrain. Why this version got the radio play is anyone’s guess — it’s laborious and it’s everywhere. Otherwise, there is a naughty revision of Get Down on It by Blue and Lil Kim. There are also two versions of Cherish — one with Ashanti, the other with boy band Natural — but nothing redeems these pieces of over-sentimental crap, regardless of the millions of orgasms the song has schlepped out. Other contributions come from Jimmy Cliff, Jamiroquai and Youssou N’Dour. This second look at the Kool canon is essential for every soul diva’s rack. — Matthew Krouse
Diana Krall: The Girl in the Other Room (Verve)
Slate magazine says Krall’s latest songs are “so genteel and slackly rendered that the album practically orders a glass of white wine the moment it starts playing”. Okay, so The Girl in the Other Room is not the pluckiest of albums, containing as it does some predictable love songs from Krall to husband Elvis Costello — or possibly the other way around. Costello’s self-deprecating manner of composition hovers above Krall’s slack throat and there is a plodding rendition of his Almost Blue. More interesting are Krall’s versions of Tom Waits’s Temptation, which does all the right boogieing, and Joni Mitchell’s Black Crow, once from Hejira, that adds some rich jazziness to the existing narrative. When Krall’s version takes flight you can really see the bird. — MK
Thandiswa: Zabalaza (Gallo)
Thandiswa — of Bongo Maffin fame — proves with her first solo effort that she is a mature musical force. Electrifying in its synergies — from seductive, deep-South gospel elements to riveting, indigenous African sounds and sensitively arranged compositions — Zabalaza’s insight into contemporary global tastes creates a vibrant pop mood with its seemingly eccentric diversity. As with Bongo Maffin’s famed Nkosi Sikelel’ that hit the charts shortly after democracy, the music offers a celebration uniquely capturing the joyous moods of our current glorification of a decade. Through tapping into the aforementioned eccentric diversity, Thandiswa embraces a South African flavour; the writing on the streets of today. However, Zabalaza is not time-specific; it won’t seem dated after a decade. Billed as Gallo’s top-selling CD, Zabalaza’s professional execution and the quality of production — including an exciting CD design that breaks from the doldrums of African kitsch — sets new standards for a music industry often criticised for its Third World lackadaisical attitude to the finer elements of the industry’s marketability. — Nadine Botha