Elton John, Hayley Jensen, Bagful of Beez: New album reviews

Elton John is the second knight of rock to do a star-studded iso-album this year PLUS Hayley Jensen and Bagful of Beez.

The inimitable Sir Elton John

This week’s album reviews from The Courier-Mail (ratings out of five stars):

POP

Elton John, The Lockdown Sessions

(Universal) ***1/2

Step aside, mere mortal musicians. It takes the knights of rock to show how a lockdown album is really done. Just as Sir Paul McCartney remixed his iso-album with the help of a procession of hip contemporary artists, Sir Elton now mixes it up too. But this one is even more of a grab bag, from mashups of his classic hits to collaborations and even cover versions. He teams up with everyone from Charlie Puth and Youth Thug & Nicki Minaj to Gorillaz and Brandi Carlisle. The set peaks with the one-two punch of It’s a Sin with Years & Years – which, while slower, captures the drama of the Pet Shop Boys original – and Chosen Family with Rina Sawayama: “We don’t need to be related to relate/We don’t need to share genes or a surname.” The back end of the album is closest to the Elton John of yore, with guest spots by Eddie Vedder, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks and even the late Glen Campbell.

COUNTRY

Hayley Jensen, Breakin’ Hearts

(Social Family) ***

Two decades in to an acclaimed career, Hayley Jensen solidifies her crossover credentials with her fourth studio album. There’s the token twang of the opening title track – “All those poor girls waiting next in line/They shoulda made you with a warning sign” – while she eschews political divisions with the slow groove of Just Gonna Party. Shake My Bones likens a lover to a drink or a smoke: “I know you’re bad for me but it sure feels good at the time.” Guest singer Clayton Bellamy brings the Nashville sound to Four Boots, while Beccy Cole lends her talent for a mesmerising cover of Sarah McLachlan’s Angel.

ALTERNATIVE

Bagful of Beez, Do Androids Dream of Electric Beatles

(Cheersquad) ***1/2

The Meanies’ Link McLennan emerges in a new incarnation for this debut record, and the results are trippy to say the least. As with other audio surrealists such as Kevin Godley or Kim Salmon, there are vocal effects, eight-bit video game noises and general synth ambience and weirdness. New single Syco is a catchy highlight, as is the clap-tastic Galapagos, while on Frenzy he sings: “Live on land, or die in the sea.” The Sgt Peppery Please Walk Away could be the electric Beatles referred to in the title, and instrumental The Naked Hours closes out the set in stirring fashion.