Jimmy Cliff Rebirth

Jimmy Cliff

Rebirth

(UMC)

****

Forty years on from Jimmy Cliff’s seminal album, The Harder They Come, one could forgive its author for kicking back in his hammock. Instead, the 64-year-old has penned his most vibrant and vital record in recent memory. Produced by Eighties punk veteran Tim Armstrong, Rebirth adds some urban grit to Cliff’s Jamaican sunshine. The horns-propelled lead single, One More, sums up the mood here. “I’ve got one more arrow in my bow, I’m gonna let it go,” he barks, sounding like a man on a mission. The only low point is Ship is Sailing, a hackneyed reggae number. RICK PEARSON

Elton John vs Pnau

Good Morning to the Night

(Mercury)

****

Sometimes ideas that seem the most unhinged turn out to be the most inspired. Here, Pnau take snatches of their mentor Elton John’s Seventies output (mostly album tracks rather than hits) and put them through a musical mincer to render them almost unrecognisable. Then, the Australian duo also known as Empire of the Sun add some melancholy but often uplifting magic of their own, before emerging with what might just be the most beautiful and expertly crafted album of 2012. For example, Foreign Fields takes John’s vocals from High Flying Bird and Cage the Songbird, adds elements of  Pinky, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, Sweet Painted Lady and Chameleon and fashions the lot into something beguiling but coherent. Amazingly, Elton John has been re-invented once again. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

Tom Paley’s Old-Time Moonshine Revue

Roll On, Roll On

(Hornbeam)

****

Singer, guitarist and banjo player Tom Paley is a seminal figure in old-time American music. He’s played with Woody Guthrie, the New Lost City Ramblers and has inspired Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder and Jerry Garcia. Now in his mid-eighties and living in London, he’s recorded this album with British folk and country musicians. His voice is strong and sounds like he’s lived this music. Most of the songs are traditional, but even familiar ones like A Horse Named Bill sound fresh. His own Beelzebubbles, about the Devil’s daughter, is witty and comical. The Fiddling Soldier, with his son Ben Paley on violin, creates a vivid pastoral picture. This is old-time music at its best. He plays The 100 club on July 23. SIMON BROUGHTON

The Very Best

MTMTMK

(Moshi Moshi)

****

A collaboration between Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and east London producer Johan Hugo, The Very Best tapped into the vogue for indie bands with African influences and ended up collaborating and touring with that scene’s figureheads, Vampire Weekend, in 2010. As they return with a second album, their sound is now closer to the hyperactive, pure electronic dance music coming out of the current Afrobeats scene. Kondaine rushes along on skittering beats while I Wanna Go Away calms the pace but doesn’t dilute the melody with its swaying flute-like tune. The vocals throughout are multi-layered, as though hundreds are singing along, which soon they surely will be.  DAVID SMYTH

Moulettes

The Bear’s Revenge

(Balling the Jack)

****

This is what a modern folk album should sound like — lively, yet swathed in the spirit of folklore. Moulettes have a stand-out performer in violinist Georgina Leach, but also harness the talents of Ruth Skipper, a superior singer and occasional performer on the bassoon, and Hannah Miller, who plays a mean cello and also sings. There is an umbilical connection with Mumford & Sons — Ted Dwayne, double bassist, ex-Moulette, current Mumford — but you would do better to think of this group as peers of the Fleet Foxes. The songwriting is strong throughout. Uca’s Dance, Some Who You Love, Songbird and Half-Remembered Song are tunes that stick in the memory l, while Sing Unto Me, Country Joy, Unlock the Doors and Blood and Thunder provide an earthy grounding. PETE CLARK

Take 6   

One

(Shanachie)

*****

The world’s greatest a cappella gospel group flashed into London last night, but in case you missed them, their latest release is as wondrous as their one-night at Ronnie Scott’s. While marking a return to their gospel roots, the album also demonstrates an ever-growing mastery of the jazz elements of their work. The richly chorded close-harmony riffs beneath the melody line, for instance, and most of all the ultra-deep groove, a pattern of claps and fingersnaps more soulful than just about anything else in music. Highlights include Can’t Imagine Love Without You, starring surprise guest Stevie Wonder, and Allelula, a song with a one-word lyric and an incredibly subtle theme. But it’s all wonderful. Enjoy. JACK MASSARIK