Lloyd

#9 'Standards' by Lloyd Cole

A very pleasant surprise from the ever urbane Mr. Cole as his new partly self-financed album and first 'proper band' release for some time turned out to be a little gem. Someone said it was "glittering literate", which is a neat enough summation. Here is a proper guitar-pop rock and roll record in the classic mould shot through with the mordant beatnik wit of old ("I wrote my dissertations on the barstools of your neighbourhood.") Certainly it's the most played album on my list and not just because it offends the sensibilities of my family less than some of the others - I'm not saying that easy listenability necessarily makes for greatness but there's certainly something joyously uplifting here that makes it effortlessly repeat-playable.