Pop

Take That

III

(Polydor)

★★★

Of late, the Take That fairy tale has become more of a morality tale. Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald’s tax shenanigans undermined their national treasure status, while Robbie Williams’s continued absence and Jason Orange’s perplexing departure have left a giant hole. And such was the nervousness over III that they refused to allow it to be reviewed pre-release. It’s no disaster but it is a strange contradictory beast and there’s no sign of Jeff Lynne’s rumoured input. These Days’ windswept choruses and the outstanding Lovelife are as strong as their best moments, while the sneakily insistent Give You My Love is a well-executed new direction. All the same, Take That were never meant to be a trio: III overstays its welcome and runs out of ideas.

John Aizlewood

Ben Ottewell

Rattlebag

(Sunday Best)

★★★

Gomez are commonly filed among the forgotten winners of the Mercury Prize, yet here’s their most distinctive singer, still in fine voice 16 years later on his second solo album. Ben Ottewell’s scorched tones by rights ought to belong to a haggard Deep South bluesman, not a father-of-three from Derbyshire. They’ve served him well, not least here on a mature, melodic collection co-written with Sam Genders of experimental folk band Tunng. In fact, he sounds less appealing on the darker, bluesy numbers such as Patience and Edge, where we approach dirge territory. When the backdrop is lighter, as on the plucked acoustic Red Dress and the standout groove, Stone, he proves why his talent deserves to be remembered.

David Smyth

Smashing Pumpkins

Monuments to an Elegy

(BMG)

★★★★

It’s almost two decades since the classic Smashing Pumpkins line-up collapsed, seemingly under the weight of frontman Billy Corgan’s control-freakery. Perhaps his cat-fancying has softened him; perhaps his new collaborator, Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, has toughened him — but the Pumpkins’ 10th album finds the dome-headed savant on his best form for an aeon. The guitars swarm like robot hornets, the synths find interesting counterpoints, while Lee’s drums clatter like Jimmy Chamberlain’s of old. It’s lean too: nine songs speed by in little over half an hour. Even if the ballads Being Being and Run2Me are a little precious, the cascading triplets of Tiberius and the muscle of Monuments are addictive. It’s probably too late for full reappraisal now but the dystopian teen melodrama sounds surprisingly current.

Richard Godwin

Angels & Airwaves

The Dream Walker

(To the Stars)

★★★

Having served his time in pop-punk jokers Blink-182, Tom DeLonge put the toilet humour behind him for his band Angels & Airwaves. After a lengthy hiatus, Blink returned a few years ago with DeLonge on board for their more grown-up sound. But the singer and guitarist has maintained Angels & Airwaves and busied himself with grandiose plans for this fifth album. Meaningless lyrics such as “we dance like bullets in the wind” do not bode well for the record’s accompanying comic, novel and film, though the moody alt-rock mostly hits the mark. Teenagers & Rituals is a muscular, chanting opener, The Wolfpack borrows The Killers’ anthemic synth-rock and Kiss With a Spell sneaks in The Cure’s post-punk bass sound. In this case, the side project may be better than the main band.

Andre Paine

Jazz

Django Reinhardt

Original Album Series

(Warner)

★★★★

Jean “Django” Reinhardt was a jazz guitar genius, a Belgian-born musician and composer of French nationality and gypsy origin who adapted his technique to accommodate the loss of the use of two fingers he burned as a teenager. Django’s blend of swing and the Roma tradition popularised gypsy jazz; his work with violinist Stephane Grappelli and the string group Quintette du Hot Club de France birthed standard after standard. Many are here, peppered throughout five albums made between 1928 and 1937: the jaunty but suave Minor Swing, Daphne, and Swing Guitars with Bill Coleman and his Orchestra. Here, too, are guest slots with big bands helmed by the likes of Dicky Wells and, with a glorious Honeysuckle Rose, that of tenor sax player Coleman Hawkins. A fitting tribute to a singular talent.

Jane Cornwell

World

Lucas Santtana

Sobre Noites e Dias

No Format

★★★★

Lucas Santtana is a name to watch in Brazilian music. A singer and multi-instrumentalist, his international career began in 2009 with his album Sem Nostalgia (Without Nostalgia) — sidestepping the overdose of nostalgia in Brazilian music exported to the West. Santtana loves layering and textures, using guitar loops, beats and electronic effects with a gift for a catchy electro-pop melody. His latest album, which translates as During Nights and Days, ranges widely. The energetic Funk dos Bromanticos, with punchy electronic beats, is a paean to gay sexual freedom in Brazil, Diary of a Bike is an anthemic guitar track with French rapper Féfé while the closing Velhinho is a gentle piano ballad. Santtana overturns the Brazilian stereotypes.

Simon Broughton