Kevin Bryan’s record reviews

Suede, “Bloodsports” (Warner)- Suede frontman Brett Anderson once memorably likened his singular Britpop band to an “out of control pram,” and the re-formed outfit are in typically expansive form as they unveil their first album since 2002’s “A New Morning.” Commercial success seems assured for a package which never strays too far from the highly charged formula which brought Suede so much fame and fortune during the mid nineties, with guitarist Richard Oakes conjuring up echoes of the long departed Bernard Butler during stand-out tracks such as “Snowblind” and “It Starts and Ends With You.”

Chuck Leavell,”Back To The Woods” (Crosscut CCD 11107)- This mellow package finds veteran Allman Brothers and Rolling Stones keyboardist Leavell paying homage to some of his musical heroes as he immerses himself in the timeless delights of the blues piano repertoire.Pioneering performers such as Little Brother Montgomery,Leroy Carr and Memphis Slim provide the raw material for this refreshingly uncluttered set, and Chuck trades licks with guest guitarist Keith Richards on one of the album’s highpoints, a rocking re-vamp of Otis Spann’s “Boots and Shoes.”

Gerhard Taschner, “Mendelssohn/Tchaikovsky” (MDG 642 1797 2)- Gerhard Taschner saw himself primarily as a concert artist, which means that the recordings of his work that survive today have all had to be be culled from radio broadcasts,as the great Cezch violinist never saw the need to sign a major recording contract. This new MDG draws on archive recordings from the forties and early fifties, with Taschner tackling the Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos alongside a highly expressive rendition of the Spanish composer Sarasate’s “Zigeuenerweisen.”

Roger Cook,”Running With The Rat Pack” (RPM RETROD 921)- This 2 CD set delivers a fairly comprehensive overview of the pop tunesmith solo career during the early seventies, serving up two complete albums, “Minstrel in Flight” and “Meanwhile Back At The World” alongside the contents of another long-player from Cook and his Blue Mink sidekick Herbie Flowers which was deemed a little too weird for mass consumption by the powers that be at Regal Zonophone and promptly shelved. It’s the hitherto unreleased tracks which repay closer investigation these days however, with “Daughter of Someone” and the brassy “Rat Pack” emerging as the best of a mildly peculiar bunch.