

There's even one acoustic number, Yosemite, that was omitted from 2017's Lust For Life because Del Rey felt its cheery sentiments jarred with that album's downbeat mood. It's a wonderfully nuanced finale to an album that's more upbeat than anything its maker has produced before. Zella Day and Weyes Blood have cameos on the Joni Mitchell cover, a faithfully reproduced piano ballad that contrasts the simple integrity of a New York street busker with the more complicated life of a pampered rock star. With Ringo working in his home studio in LA, McCartney, Dave Grohl, Lenny Kravitz and Sheryl Crow all supplied backing vocals, via Zoom, on Here's To The Nights.Įlsewhere, Doors guitarist Robby Krieger features on the EP's funky title track, while Toto's Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams are co-writers on the good-natured Not Enough Love In The World.Īnd Texan indie-rock veterans Spoon pay tribute to Tom Petty, who died in 2017, with a two-song release containing affectionate live covers of 1976's Breakdown and 1990's A Face In The Crowd. The drummer's aptly titled, five-song Zoom In EP, out today, was recorded remotely with a little help from his friends. Macca's old bandmate Ringo Starr, right, has also been busy. But a fresh version of album track The Kiss Of Venus is out now, with American singer Dominic Fike transforming the acoustic original into an R&B ballad. With contributions from Beck, Phoebe Bridgers and Damon Albarn, McCartney III Imagined won't arrive until next month. Proving that decent songs can be interpreted in lots of different ways, Paul McCartney has curated a new version of his McCartney III 'rockdown' album, with guest performers covering or remixing their favourite moments from last December's solo release.

Sung in a huskier tone, it even mentions her photographer sibling Chuck - 'me and my sister just playing it cool' - against a backdrop of jazzily brushed drums and humming electronics. The title track goes back farther to a middle-class childhood in upstate New York. White Dress finds Del Rey, singing in a wispy soprano, gazing back longingly on her days as a teenage waitress obsessed with indie-rock bands The White Stripes ('when they were white hot') and Kings Of Leon. Here, co-producers Jack Antonoff and Rick Nowels add refreshing folk, country and jazz twists without diluting the essential Lana-ness of it all.Ī more honest tone is obvious from the outset. Over the past decade, she has deviated only sporadically from a lush, retro-pop template. Now, as she lowers her emotional guard, she's also shifting the dial musically. There's undoubtedly something compelling about her character-driven songs but she has also fallen back, repeatedly, on her brooding, good-girl-gone-bad persona since breaking through with the magnificent Video Games single ten years ago Lana Del Rey (pictured) is often accused of sticking to a tried and trusted formula. That was quietly shelved, though she did release covers of You'll Never Walk Alone and George Gershwin's Summertime. Late last year, she hinted that an album of American songbook standards was imminent. Her last release, Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass, was an LP of spoken-word poetry. She has clearly been itching to try something different for some time. This time, though, there are fewer bad-boy lovers and a sense that we're getting glimpses of the woman raised as Lizzy Grant, as well as her alter ego Lana. True to form, Chemtrails Over The Country Club is packed with leisurely ballads, moody arrangements and evocative tales of skewed romance. On her seventh album, there are signs the mask is starting to slip. There's undoubtedly something compelling about her character-driven songs but she has also fallen back, repeatedly, on her brooding, good-girl-gone-bad persona since breaking through with the magnificent Video Games single ten years ago. Lana Del Rey is often accused of sticking to a tried and trusted formula.

HAYLEY WILLIAMS: Flowers For Vases / Descansos (Atlantic) LANA DEL REY: Chemtrails Over The Country Club (Polydor)
