GIG OF THE WEEK
NATALIE IMBRUGLIA O2 Academy, Oxford On tour until Feb 27
The song that made a singer of Natalie Imbruglia, back when she was best known for being in Neighbours, was Torn. On Apple Music, two decades later, it’s still her biggest seller. It also occupies 11 other places in her top 30, thanks to appearances on umpteen compilations, from Sing Your Heart Out! to Now That’s What I Call Power Ballads.
One of those makes more sense than the other. Torn, written by the long-forgotten Los Angeles band Ednaswap, is not what I’d call a power ballad – it’s a modest little number, free from bombast. But Imbruglia does sing her heart out.
Her show may be an experiment to see how far a singer can get with an impassioned voice, a charming presence and a skilful band, when she has only one big crowd-pleaser. The answer is: just far enough.
Natalie Imbruglia. Her show may be an experiment to see how far a singer can get with an impassioned voice when she has only one big crowd-pleaser. The answer is: just far enough
The songs are chugging pop-rock, almost unplugged, with three seated men on guitars and percussion, brewing up a warmth that matches Imbruglia’s personality. At 43, she’s a British citizen, but her breeziness, like her beach-ready mini-dress, is pure Aussie.
Lesser hits like Shiver and Glorious slip down well, while Butterflies evokes the far-off time when people seldom advertised their anxieties. But the highlight is Torn, which comes with its own cocktail at the bar (the Torn-tastic) and its own mug at the merchandise stall. It has a piano intro, a proper shape and a cascading chorus. Now that’s what I call a classic.
BOX SET OF THE WEEK
Roxy Music Roxy Music-Super Deluxe UMC, out now
Rating: 
Roxy Music’s 1972 debut is back as a box set – three CDs and a DVD – complete with out-takes, demos, John Peel sessions and French television footage. It’s been seven years in the making – quite a feat for an album originally recorded in two weeks. It costs £130, so it has to be special. The package is typical of Bryan Ferry’s perfectionism. It’s an exhibition in a box, with hundreds of evocative pictures and the story of Roxy’s origins told by Richard Williams, the critic who discovered them. The music isn’t perfectionist at all. Eclectic, erratic, fizzing with energy, it’s a testament to Ferry’s vision in pioneering, postmodern pop, and gathering talents as disparate as Brian Eno (on woozy synths), Phil Manzanera (eloquent guitar) and Andy Mackay (honking sax and haunting oboe). If the album, also reissued as a double CD, returns to the charts, it may be the boldest thing there
THIS WEEK’S CD RELEASES
By Adam Woods
Joan As Police Woman Damned Devotion Pias, out now
Rating:
You might take Joan Wasser’s sixth album as an elegant collection of slow soul tunes with a classic feel, and it would still work: Warning Bell or Tell Me could be old Al Green tunes. But the formidable Wasser, a friend of the late Lou Reed and girlfriend of Jeff Buckley at the time of his death, has deeper stories to tell. The Silence samples chants from the Women’s March in Washington, and amid the lush but stripped-back grooves there’s always a sense that you’ll benefit from listening closely
Craig David The Time Is Now Sony, out now
Rating:
Craig David has finally emerged from a long season in the hit-making wilderness, scoring his second No 1 album in 2016, 16 years after his first. One interviewer last time around encountered him, with characteristic eagerness, wearing a watch that simply said ‘now’ on its face. He’s taken that maxim for the title of his seventh album, a likeable collection of nimble R&B about loving ladies and seizing your chance, albeit spearheaded by typically anthemic we’re-all-in-thistogether Bastille collaboration I Know You
Belle & Sebastian How To Solve Our Human Problems Matador, out Fri
Rating:
Once indie cult heroes with a dreamy, lovelorn air and charmingly rudimentary skills, Glasgow’s Belle & Sebastian are nowadays pushing 50 and able to turn their hand to all sorts of things. And if some of the old magic has evaporated, there’s still an idealistic warmth. On this compilation of three EPs, they bounce winningly from cheery cosmic disco (Sweet Dew Lee) to smooth Gallic synth-rock (We Were Beautiful), Dusty-ish Sixties soul (Best Friend) and, as ever, prettily rambling folk-pop (There Is An Everlasting Song)