The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 50

sounds You should have known it wouldn't lastWhat a sad demise for your saving graceNow you realisesomehow everything willbe a little different than you thought. THE POSIES, Somehow Everything -at 1 i I rz i I I 'Ffl i if- -mi. -t lam mm JIMMY PAGE ROBERT PLANT Walking Into Clarksdale (Mercury) y2 kiven the enduring influence (in 4Iartists as varied as silverchair, Jeff Buckley and hip-hop's hardcore) this album is perfectly contemporary but also inextricably linked to the past. Despite a title suggesting a return to roots, (Clarksdale, Tennessee, is one of the semi-mythical homes of the blues) it resonates with the feel of mid-period Zeppelin Houses Of The Holy, Physical Graffiti- albums, where the blues made accommodation for rich layerings, where whatever tenuous link some made between Zeppelin and heavy metal's meatheads were blown away. On Clarksdale there are no blindly grinding riffs but plenty of rhythmic channelling; there are few overt blues moves (the title track comes closest) but an assortment of moods, from yearning (Please Read The Letter) to melancholy (Heart In Your Hand), from exultation (When The World Was Young) to primal force (Sons Of Freedom).

Jimmy Page still commands. His arrangements, as ever, are what drive the power of these songs much more than any guitar heroics something very few of his imitators have ever understood. Robert Plant's voice rarely flies off on the wild man of horny-oh route for which he is infamous (no lemon being squeezed down his leg this time mama). He prefers to cajole, to plead and persuade and occasionally to wail evocatively. Like the album.

It isn't earth moving but solidly impressive. Like the album. BERNARD ZUEL a ve a USHER My Way (LaFaceBMG) Jf t's not enough that Usher can fcsing. The kid from Chattanooga, Tennessee has the face, the body (check the six pack) and the moves to match. To quote one of the hip-hop toy boy's many hysterically reverent female fans, "he's da A major sensation at the age of 18, Usher's second album is going to cram more than a few bucks into his baggy pant pockets.

The combination of a matured voice, a deepened self-confidence and a youthful flavour mesh together to display much of Usher's pulsating personality through his music. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that he's got a personality too. So, you take an artist that's got it all and place him under the careful direction of the most winning names in the business, and you come out with a slam-dunk smoker. You Make Me Wanna, the Jermaine Dupri produced signature track laced with a thumping bass line, outstanding guitar chords and a sexy hook is a flawless opener (and extended closer). The happening mid-tempo groove of One Day You'll Be Mine, which samples the Isley Brothers' Footsteps, proves the fresh face has taste, as does Bed Time, the beautiful ballad produced with a golden touch by he-who-can-do-no-wrong, Kenny Edmonds.

The title track and Come Back prove Usher gets mad cool, and the lofty Will makes it perfectly clear Usher, with his great voice and fashionable looks, is an irrefutable force. MARY TARTAGUONE t- PAUL KELLY Words and Music (Mushroom) jF apt title, this one. Kelly's ilimpact has always been shaped primarily by his lyrics and that distinctive voice, with its Italo-lrish blend. This release, following hard on the heels of the well-received compilation Songs From The South, is a deliberate attempt at a bigger sound, driven by a potent three-guitar attack which includes the ubiquitous Spencer P. Jones.

It's by far Kelly's most diverse collection, swinging from the biting social commentary of the opener Little Kings, through the anthemic title track to the sweet lover byplay of She Answers The Sun. Kelly is prone to the odd clunker or two but Words and Music is remarkably consistent and shows Kelly has lost none of his gift for social observance. And always there is that understated sense of The faultless backing is cream on an already rich cake. Anyone who has spent time over the green baize in a pub would be familiar with the philosophies Kelly spits out in stream-of-consciousness fashion on Nothing on My Mind. Then there is the cutting put downs on Gutless Wonder, a track to be cherished by anyone who has fallen foul of human bastardry.

Kelly fans will no doubt be familiar with three of the tracks Tease Me, Melting and It Started With a Kiss, which bobbed up on early, special copies of South. But why quibble? They lose nothing in a second airing. a MICK MILLETT A Ii THE POSIES Success (PopllamaShock) nether it's Aretha Franklin or the Hollies, is there anyone who has never experienced some deep if fleeting emotional connection with a song heard in the supermarket: good songwriting goes beyond genre. There's no denying, however, that this is pop music. Evidently Success is The Posies' final album.

The Seattle group's previous two efforts, Frosting On The Beater and Amazing Disgrace are full of songs to die for. What the Posies have is a particular gift of transmitting painfully familiar and recurring emotions through wondrous melodies. They snare their tunes in webs of guitars sparkling, "shimmering, abrasive, rustic, whatever. They can rock, they can lullaby, they've got a mean jangle. Songwriters Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow sing the most bittersweet harmonies.

Forget Oasis et al, The Posies are the group that delivers on the promise of the best '60s and early-'70s pop and actually bring this music into the present. The songs are brazen: the lyrics celebrate the foibles of being human in general and of being in love in particular. checked my mailboxbut you weren 't inside; You hypnotise me through your skinIt's where I want to tunes, bright or melancholy, wear their feelings openly. The result can be that a Posies song can seem to tell you secrets about yourself, or at least remind you that other people have those awkward and intense moments. JOHN ENCARNACAO I ir i SONG COMPANY i BERNARD BUTLER People Move On (CreationEpic) V2 gn his first solo work since an acrimonious departure from Suede, Bernard Butler has emerged (not surprisingly) as a songwriter and guitarist of great inventiveness and warmth but also (very surprisingly) as a more than capable singer.

His voice, a high slightly reedy tenor is one for close miking, for asides more than striding cocksureness: think Neil Young, at a stretch. Musically and atmospherically this also bears the mark of Young, as well as a soulful, vulnerable version of Suede's glam leanings mixed with a very English singersongwriter tradition. There are flashy rockist tunes dotted across People Move On: Not Alone has the grand sweep of Suede's best moments with strings matching a soaring guitar; You Just Know owes a big debt to Keith Richards; while When You Grow grafts a Mick Ronson solo onto a Verve-like near power ballad. But it is at its best in the personal, tentative moments. You Light The Fire has all the ache of Big Star's Thirteen, the title track is simply beautifully tender and even partially successful efforts such as Stay and In Vain (which wear their influences a little too obviously) are bookended by the country-fringed You've Got What It Takes and the California journey of I'm Tired.

I was prepared to like this; I was surprised to find myself loving it. BBZ 7 adv. S7nf th Smdaf SMH METRO MAY 8-14 DLOUUAil I'ONUill CIIAMISEjUftlAIDS pari; invention esb'ian-ciioir I II I)L I P. ilt I A JL li TIODiiS JOHN -BELlPand many more 1 3 i- word 4 4 unplugged.