Pop

Nicole Scherzinger

Big Fat Lie

(RCA/Sony)

★★★

Nicole Scherzinger’s roles as Lewis Hamilton’s on/off girlfriend, a member of Pussycat Dolls and an X Factor judge, have relegated her solo singing career to the back burner. Rather than employing a flotilla of writers and producers on her second solo outing, she’s persevered with the pair responsible for Rihanna’s Umbrella, The-Dream and Tricky (very much not to be confused with the British Tricky). The result is an appealing unity of supertight sound, where Scherzinger suggests a more vulnerable Beyoncé. There is filler, but the irresistible Girl With a Diamond Heart is a poppy delight, while there’s real steel to First Time. Meanwhile, the startlingly selflacerating title track’s frankness (“look past my features, just a little deeper, I’m living a big fat lie”) where she admits to being Photoshopped and using a teleprompter shows she’s transcended the vacuous.

John Aizlewood

Ben Howard

I Forget Where We Were

(Universal/Island)

★★★★

Devon singer-songwriter Ben Howard was one of the duller musicians to dominate a BRIT Awards ceremony in recent years, taking home two statuettes in 2013 for the pleasant strumming of his platinum-selling debut, Every Kingdom. The follow-up is the sound of him becoming interesting with an ambitious collection of songs. The dominant sound on the slowburning opener, Small Things, and the near-eight minutes of End of the Affair is a resonant electric guitar. There’s barely any folk, although In Dreams is an intense acoustic moment. It’s a grower, dealing in textures and atmosphere rather than immediate melodie, and is well worth the extra effort that Howard now demands.

David Smyth

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics

(RCA)

★★★★

For once the heart does not sink at the prospect of someone taking on the “great diva classics”, as Aretha Franklin is already in that celestial company: the queen of soul has the hit singles and albums; the fluctuations in weight and health; the complicated private life; the voice beyond compare. And Franklin may now be a woman of a certain vintage, but she can still sing the baby socks off our current batch of “divas”. There are classics here both ancient and modern. Her take on Adele’s Rolling in the Deep is a rollicking revelation, her reggae chops are intact on No One, previously the property of Alicia Keys, while she does righteous disco jobs on I Will Survive, I’m Every Woman and You Keep Me Hangin’ On. The only dubious note is struck by Franklin’s jazzy cover of Nothing Compares 2 U, which does not compare to Sineád O’Connor.

Pete Clark

Neil Diamond

Melody Road

(Capitol)

★★★

Reinvented by super producer Rick Rubin on two previous albums of stark, unfussy songs, Neil Diamond drifts back to the middle of the road for his first collection of new material in six years. That wistful record sleeve alone discards a good deal of his new-found credibility. Fans of Sixties soft rock evergreen Sweet Caroline will approve of cosy tunes like Sunny Disposition, Marry Me Now and The Art of Love. For those immune to the heartwarming crooning, there’s the impassioned bark of Alone at the Ball, the country-tinged (Ooo) Do I Wanna Be Yours and the conversational nostalgia of First Time. For his 32nd studio album, Diamond’s still striving for classy, meticulous songwriting but perhaps he needed Rubin by his side on this journey.

Andre Paine

World

Djessou Mory Kanté

River Strings

(Sterns Music)

★★★★

This is one of the most exquisite African guitar albums in a long time. Djessou Mory Kanté comes from an illustrious musical family in Guinea and is a younger brother of Kanté Manfila, who led the famed band Les Ambassadeurs and worked with Salif Keita. But Djessou Mory, a much sought-after arranger, is a master in his own right. What we have here is an hour of first-rate electric and acoustic guitar playing — mostly fast paced but superbly relaxed with Djelimady Tounkara, another renowned guitarist, guesting on a couple of tracks. It is a thrilling river-like tapestry of interweaving sounds. Several of the 13 tracks sound a little samey, but are always beautiful.

Simon Broughton

Jazz

Branford Marsalis

In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral

(OKeh Records)

★★★★

Three-time Grammy winner Marsalis has long explored the creative possibilities of the jazz quartet and duo setting; his warm, expressive saxophone playing has enhanced many a classical ensemble and transformed countless rock and pop performances. Now comes the American maestro’s first unaccompanied solo album, recorded live inside an iconic San Francisco landmark with vaulted ceiling arches and a seven-second delay. And what a glorious affair it is: spare, melodic and perhaps inevitably spiritual. Whether playing soprano, alto or tenor saxophone on tracks including Hoagy Carmichael’s evergreen Stardust, his own inventive The Moment I Recall Your Face and a handful of soaring improvisations, Marsalis is unhurried, respectful but direct. An intimate work that eschews virtuosic flurries in favour of meaning and feeling.

Jane Cornwell