LATER...with Jools Holland (Series 33, Show 8)

This week on Later...was a return for another band trying to prove new material, The Killers. Also a special guest in the form of Al Green, plus Fleet Foxes and Pendulum. A strange inclusion was the latest project from Damon Albarn: Monkey Journey To The West which thankfully did not include the music used extensively in this years Olympics coverage.




Tuesday

The Killers - Human
Monkey Journey To The West - Monkey's World
Al Green (Chat with Jools)
Pendulum - Granite
Al Green - Let's Stay Together
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
The Killers - Spaceman

Friday

The Killers - Human
Pendulum - Granite
Monkey Journey To The West - Monkey's World
Marc Almond (Chat with JH)
Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why
The Killers - Losing Touch
Little Boots - Meddle
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (Chat with Jools)
Pendulum - Propane Nightmares
Monkey Journey To The West - Heavenly Peach Banquet
The Killers - Neon Tiger
Al Green (Chat with Jools)
Fleet Foxes - Your Protector
Al Green - Let's Stay Together
The Killers - Spaceman

Unlike many bands recently making a comeback after years away, including Razorlight and Snow Patrol, The Killers has been busy grafting away through a series of albums. The latest offering is a mixed bag of stuff. The band perform four new songs, opening and closing both shows: latest 80's synth pop single Human, the aptly named soft rock of Losing Touch, the string pleasantries of Neon Tiger, and the ever so long and boring Spaceman. It all sounds a lot more consistent than the usual Killers 'one great song and a bunch of fillers' albums but with no really great song. There is no Mr Brightside or When You Were Young. I lost interest in the band with Sam's Town which is hard work, and then I skipped the compilation Sawdust. Day & Age seems to be well received but does nothing for me. No interview with the band either.

Pendulum were very disappointing. Only two songs : the powerhouse riff-heavy space rock of Granite and the more mixed up Propane Nightmares. The big problem was the weak vocals and repetitive nature of the guitars and guitar/keyboard hybrid. Likewise Fleet Foxes, one of the best vocal harmony groups around only really impressed with the heavier Your Protector - the choral ending is sublime. Tuesday's White Winter Hymnal was decent enough but the balance was all wrong on He Doesn't Know Why. And the legend that is Al Green gave a very messy interview on Tuesday and rattled his way through Let's Stay Together, his ageing vocals getting more and more croaky. He obviously still has the passion for touring and performing but like many of Jools' guests, he probably doesn't know when to stop. Friday was a better interview in which he talked about his early life and career - his brothers threw him out of their group so he went solo, struggled with music synch on his first video and told new musicians to "hold on to your dreams". Wise words.

Far too much of the show was dedicated to the Monkey Journey To The West project. The central interview on Friday was a real mess - confrontational, incoherent and showed the annoying side of Albarn. He said that they had attempted to scale down the usual orchestra into more of a band for the show - a completely pointless half-arsed exercise. The two songs: the baffling Monkey's World and the giggling, la la la vocals and bleeps of Heavenly Peach Banquet work brilliantly as part of a soundtrack and stage show but not in the studio. It all looked like a budget version of The Lion King with Chinese songs remixed by two guys in a shed.

So the best is left until last: the wonderful Little Boots. Victoria Hesketh performed Meddle with effortless talent. At one point she was singing, playing piano and stylaphone all at the same time. She even found time to add a few hand claps. Breathtaking to watch and a good song. But one only one. She could have been a headliner for me.

This weeks pointless interview went to the great Marc Almond - which doesn't make it excusable as he was just plugging a new DVD/CD of his latest stageshow in an seedy part of old London. Jools asked him about his accident and subsequent recovery and Almond thanked Jools and his band for supporting him. Good stuff...but it would have been nice to hear a set from him.

So one average headliner, a fading legend, a pointless interview from someone plugging a new product, a couple of disappointing new bands, a scaled down show which didn't work and a superb unknown artist who only gets one song. Business as usual then...