Sting, KISS, Ladyhawke, The Darkness: New album reviews

Sting is once again concerned with weighty issues but delivers them in a more accessible fashion PLUS KISS, Ladyhawke and The Darkness.

Sting. Picture: Mayumi Nashida

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

POP

Sting, The Bridge

(A&M/Universal) ***1/2

The former chief of The Police, coming off a collaboration with Shaggy and deep dives into world music, is more accessible on this, his 15th solo studio release. There are echoes of his early solo career: the class-angsty Harmony Road features the familiar strains of a cornet, while the delicate strings of For Her Love recall Shape of My Heart and Fragile. There’s whistling and clapping on the high-on-life If It’s Love, then the moody throb of Loving You. The Hills on the Border chugs along like a train as it relates the story of a journey, while on the title track Sting observes: “We are but bags of blood and bone/But we carry the weight of our sons and daughter.” Captain Bateman’s Basement is a bassy jam with the simplest “lyrics” since De Do Do Do De Da Da Da. There’s the technical percussion of Bells of St Thomas – “The exit wounds of a love gone wrong/She said she was leaving but she’d already gone” – and it’s all capped off by a mellow, polished cover of Otis Redding’s Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay (complete with whistling outro).

ROCK

KISS, Destroyer (45th Anniversary)

(Universal) ****

For a band notorious for repackaging and reselling, it’s perhaps surprising this is only KISS’s second deluxe edition, after Love Gun. And as arguably their best album – spawning hits such as Detroit Rock City, Shout It Out Loud and the breakthrough monster Beth – Destroyer is an obvious choice. Unlike 2012’s Resurrected edition, this is the original mix in its most pristine form yet – including even a Dolby Atmos version in the “super deluxe” set. In contrast the demo disc is rough, providing a warts-and-all window to the creative process. A live disc makes official a bootleg that was already circulating of a 1976 Paris concert. The lavish physical releases are the perfect KISSmas stocking stuffer for the collector or completist in your life; casual fans and the KISS-curious will be content with streaming.

POP

Ladyhawke, Time Flies

(BMG) ***

The fourth album from the Kiwi otherwise known as “Pip” Brown has been five years in the making, and the wait has been worthwhile. From the funky, chunky bass of opener My Love to the fuzzy, strummy exuberance of the title track, it’s a lesson in synth-pop sensibility. Then there’s the stop-start Rock the Casbah vibe of Mixed Emotions, and the Garry Glitter-esque rattle and distortion of Guilty Love (recorded with Broods). Gentler respite Take It Easy is like a lullaby as it urges time out from a harried existence, before livening up in the chorus.

ROCK

The Darkness, Motorheart

(Cooking Vinyl) ***1/2

This British outfit could be the Hoodoo Gurus of glam metal, one step back from the parody of Spinal Tap. They don’t take themselves too seriously, and frontman Justin Hawkins’ falsetto is the perfect foil for their power riffs. The band’s seventh studio album finds them on the road for the bagpipe-saturated Welcome tae Glasgae (“The women are gorgeous and the food is OK”) and Eastbound (with guest line by Hawkins’ dad), and there are nods to Rick Springfield (Jussy’s Girl) and even Star Trek (It’s Love, Jim). The high-octave title track, about a love robot, features mystic guitar: “She’s literally a love machine… I never had much luck with women so I bought myself a droid” – while The Power and the Glory of Love sports an AC/DC-like rhythm. And Hawkins’ vocal range gets a full workout on It’s a Love Thing (You Wouldn’t Understand).