REVIEW: The week's best rock albums from The Rolling Stones and Halestorm to Big Big Train

Big Big Train.

Merchants of Light.

(English Electric).

***** 5 Stars.

To convert the age-old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ to audio sums up this remarkable record release by Big Big Train. It smartly narrates itself as it sinks deep into the listener’s psyche.

Intriguing song titles: A Mead Hall In Winter, Experimental Gentlemen, The Transit Of Venus Across The Sun, Telling The Bees and Victorian Brickwork is accompanied by an exquisite blend of melodious English folk prog sounds.

However, it’s the superior musicianship splicing the whole show together that wins out.

Just listening to the supercharged sound of a group of musicians hitting their stride and showing their class, as brass blends with string instruments, on A Mead Hall In Winter is a thrilling ride alone.

Singer David Longdon brings a Gabriel style rasp to his vocals harking back to early Genesis, especially when joined by mellotron sounds and Greg Spawton’s bass pedals. All of which reinforces BBT’s unique approach to incorporating their impeccable musical influences to create their own distinctive sound.

This rare live outing recorded last year at The Cadogan Hall, London, reveals a band breezing full steam ahead on these hot polished tracks.

Halestorm.

Vicious.

(Atlantic).

**** 4 Stars.

Black Vultures opens with a strangled vocal sounding like a heavy metal demented Dalek. Its heavy riffage vibrates the eardrum as does Skulls with its melodic hard rocking joyride.

There’s no let up as the bellicose speed metal of Uncomfortable punches its weight. Frontwoman Lizzy Hale spits and screams the lyrics with a fierce gusto.

Halestorm also produces a fine line in stomping glam metal especially on songs Buzz and the erotically charged Do Not Disturb, complete with head-spinning guitar licks.

The confessional acoustic led holler of Heart Of Novocain betrays a deftness of touch that balances out the heavier elements. As does follow up entrancing track Painkiller.

There are more hooks, delicious vocals and musicianship here to reel in both avid fans and casual listeners. This band knows how to whip up a tempest of controlled noise, with a featherlight but powerful touch, as final song The Silence plays out this mature metal offering.

The Rolling Stones.

No Security: San Jose 1999.

(Eagle Rock).

**** 4 Stars.

Recorded during their 1999 No Security tour, this entire San Jose show finds The Stones in a fast and frisky mood. Fashioned from a cocktail of classic and contemporaneous songs, including a killer Saint Of Me and Out Of Control, The Stones shine hard as they go back to the future with their rock royalty hits catalogue.

Straight through from the sway and swagger of openers Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Bitch and You Got Me Rocking, to their sixties hits Paint it Black and Get Off Of My Cloud, this recording finds the band indulging in a purple patch.

There are even some funny moments as Richards chides Ronnie Wood for loudly plugging in his guitar during a song introduction.

Killing the riffs to some of rock music’s most memorable songs, The Stones are brilliantly documented on sparky form on this fine 2 CD/DVD release from The Vault series.

Curved Air.

Phantasmagoria.

(Esoteric/Cherry Red).

**** 4 Stars.

Curved Air’s third album consolidated the band’s bohemian, progressive music tendencies with dreamy vocals by Sonja Kristina and hypnotic, adventurous instrumentation. It even scaled the heady heights of the Top 20 upon its original release.

The haunting Marie Antoinette and Melinda (More Or Less) sounding as though recorded through a wispy gauze of amplification, sets the ethereal tone of the album.

Interspersed by the more fiddly, abstract instrumental visions of violinist Darryl Way and multi-instrumentalist Francis Monkman, this album contains the first use of a vocoder on Whose Shoulder Are You Looking Over Anyway?

Bonus tracks and a second disc DVD of two short but essential concerts from 1972, plus a pristine remastering, enables these tracks to breathe with crystal clarity.