Top 10 Albums of 2007

(Morning Star, Friday 28 December 2007)

IN REVIEW: Morning Star awards

Folk Rock
ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS - Raising Sand (Decca)

HOW incredibly poetic that it's taken bluegrass/country singer Krauss to smooth the sharp edges of Plant's balls-out rock schtick.

There's a vulnerability to the duo's sound which is haunting and comforting and both the folk and rock worlds have gained something special indeed with the release of this record.

Covering tracks from sources as broad as Tom Waits and the Everly Brothers, Plant and Krauss have conducted themselves with class and decorum through the "covers album" minefield, bringing a new slant to odes to love and loss like Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson and Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On).

In truth, Plant's occasionally nasal tone here is soothing and the melodious quality of Krauss's voice really does mark her as without equal, a tuneful foil to her accompanist.

Although this union may be a fleeting drop in the ever-expanding folk rock ocean, Raising Sand stands to be a record revisited by fans of both and neither singer for some time to come, such is its glorious impact.

Folk Rock
KT TUNSTALL - Drastic Fantastic (Relentless)

IT'S a little disingenuous for KT not to acknowledge the debt that she owes to her years spent busking.

Of course, it was arduous, but the hard-won success of this native Fifer is all the sweeter because it comes to someone who has honed her craft to an almost perfect degree, producing what is easily one of the albums of the year.

The songs on Drastic Fantastic, Tunstall's third studio effort, are as sweet and tough as the singer herself and all thanks to the years spent reflecting on her work.

From the straightforward rock of Little Favours through to country-tinged Hold On, there's an evolution at work as the songstress takes her folk roots and imbues them with a sass and intelligence which knocks the spots off any of her contemporaries.

And how sweet the pleasure must be for Tunstall as she belts out If Only's chorus line - "if only you could see me now" - now that everyone can see her and what a marvel she is.