Album reviews: The Unthanks, Emily Barker, Tom Williams and The Beatles

As interpreted here by the always brilliant Unthank sisters, Rachel and Becky, they shimmer with the same delicate brilliance as Nick Drake’s own music, pieces like What Can A Song Do To You?, Little Weaver Bird and, especially, Bird In The Blue, almost unbearably moving. 

Between the tracks, Nick’s sister Gabrielle reads some of her mother’s poems, including the wonderful Martha: “I live hard and oh I hardly live/Puffed on the dreary wind of little fears.” 

The accompaniment throughout, devised and largely played by Adrian McNally, blends piano, fiddle and delicate woodwind textures, but the strength of the Unthanks, as ever, lies in the fragile embroidery of the sisters’ close harmony singing. 

One of the albums of the year so far. 

EMILY BARKER Sweet Kind Of Blue (Everyone Sang/Kartel) – out now 

An Australian singer-songwriter, who has worked extensively in Britain, Barker may be best known for her theme tune to the Kenneth Branagh detective series Wallander.

On her third solo album she decamps to Sam Phillips’s iconic studio in Memphis, where Elvis famously recorded. 

The result, initially, is a little odd, Barker’s voice seemingly too folky and soft-edged to live with the gutsy r’n’b of the opening Sweet Kind Of Blue. 

But then comes a superb ballad, Sister Goodbye, dedicated to pioneering gospel rock’n’roller Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and suddenly the album comes alive. 

TOM WILLIAMS All Change (Caroline International) – out Friday 

Teacher of songwriting and guitar to schoolchildren, in between his own music-making, Williams recruited a bunch of music tech students from Leeds Beckett University to make this, his fifth album, and it’s a peach. 

From the grandiose opener Everyone Needs A Home to the sweetly intimate Sometimes and Kinks-like Get High this is catchy and intelligent pop composition at its very best. 

THE BEATLES Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Apple/Universal, 2CDs) – out Friday

Half a century on, Sgt. Pepper remains the greatest song cycle in rock, from Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds to the still heartbreaking She’s Leaving Home. 

Newly mixed by Giles Martin, and with 34 unreleased recordings. Beautiful, universal and unforgettable