New CD releases: Miles Kane, BC Camplight and The Proclaimers

ALBUM OF THE WEEK

Miles Kane
Coup De Grace  4/5

(Virgin EMI)

A key member of Arctic Monkey Alex Turner’s spin-off group The Last Shadow Puppets, Kane is a fine guitarist and even better singer.

On this third solo album he generates more excitement and demonstrates more genuine invention than the Arctics have achieved in a long while.

Built over the sort of muffled thump that underpinned a hundred glam-rock singles, Cry On My Guitar is an almost perfect homage to T-Rex but also manages to name-check The Sweet’s Ballroom Blitz.

Loaded, meanwhile, co-written by the peerless Lana del Rey and Jamie T, is a swaggering tilt through the wilder side of life and suggests a night out with Kane will probably not involve a quiet visit to the theatre.

Best of all though is the yelping, stripped back dub of the title track, and Wrong Side Of Life, featuring a stop-start rhythm and possibly the best, full-throated rock vocal you’ll hear this year.

A breathtaking return.

BC Camplight
Deportation Blues 3/5

(Bella Union)

Uprooted from his new home and girlfriend and dog in Manchester by immigration officials, New Jersey-born Brian Christinzio aka BC Camplight eventually returned on an Italian passport, thanks to his grandparents.

The whole frustrating saga is channelled into some fascinating shapes here – the laid-back but hypnotic I’m In A Weird Place and film noir-ish Am I Dead Yet?, for instance.

It’s not a complete downer but the spine-tingling melodies that filled his previous album, How To Die In The North, are in short supply and fans will have to dig much deeper to find them.

The Proclaimers
Angry Cyclist 3/4

(Cooking Vinyl)

Designed for live performance, above all, on one of the twins’ highly successful national tours, there’s a slightly throwaway feel to many of The Proclaimers’ recent songs.

But beyond the galloping beats and knees-up rhythms of numbers such as Sometimes It’s The Fools and A Way With Words lies genuine passion and lyrical excellence.

A sharp political edge, too: The Proclaimers might be virtual national treasures but they are not interested in playing it too safe.

The title track – a protest against the prickly intolerance of our times – is superb, as is Classy, a witty sideswipe at a class system where “culture travelled out from the rabble/And had a saddle placed on its back”.

And there we were thinking they just wrote about long walks…