Later…with Jools Holland (Series 34, Show 6 - 12th May and 15th May 2009)

A much more interesting line-up this week with a second show for Little Boots, Lisa Hannigan and Annie Lennox - a very female oriented show (never a bad thing). Sadly no Morrissey who has been ordered to rest by doctors (Get well soon Mozza!). He would have been the highlight of the male performers in a week which really needed a man to step up and challenge the women. The return of the New York Dolls failed to impress and both Daniel Merriweather and Asher Roth were hopeless. The only descent male performer gets one song on Friday - Jon Allen.

Tuesday (live)

• New York Dolls - ‘Cause I Sez So
• Daniel Merriweather - Change
• Little Boots - New In Town
• Annie Lennox (Chat with JH)
• Asher Roth - La Di Di
• Annie Lennox - Little Bird
• Lisa Hannigan - I Don’t Know
• New York Dolls - Personality Crisis

Friday

• New York Dolls - ‘Cause I Sez So
• Daniel Merriweather - Stop Me
• Little Boots - New In Town
• Annie Lennox (Chat with JH)
• Lisa Hannigan - Ocean And A Rock
• Asher Roth - La Di Di
• Annie Lennox - Here Comes The Rain Again
• New York Dolls (Chat with JH)
• Daniel Merriweather - Cigarettes
• New York Dolls - My World
• Jon Allen - In Your Light
• Little Boots - Remedy
• Lisa Hannigan - Sea Song
• Daniel Merriweather - Change
• New York Dolls - Trash

This week’s legends are the seminal punks New York Dolls who in 2009 release their fourth album in 33 years. Yes 33 years. That has to be some sort of record and puts Kate Bush to shame. Johansen, Sylvain, and Kane were brought back together in 2004 by Morrissey - who in a cruel twist of fate cannot appear on Later this week (do the NYD appear instead?), and five years later release ‘Cause I Sez So, the band’s second of the ‘reformed group’ releases, produced by Todd Rundgren. The band now are less punk and more Rolling Stones with David Johansen looking and sounding more like Mick Jagger at each passing year. The band kick off each show with the title track in some style. They still have it…just. Unfortunately Tuesday closer Personality Crisis is a horrible mess and My World is an attempt at melody and harmonies. Friday’s closer Trash is also a racket. Jools chats with Johansen and Sylvain, after being introduced in typically shambolic style, about how the band formed and what shapes their music - kind of a an anti-stadium rock guitar music. The archive is the band in full ‘big hair’ 70s flow - playing live and sounding a mess. Sylvain talks about the 2004 reforming and having more fun than they thought.

One of the highlights of last year, Little Boots has now become Allison Goldfrapp, rather than the fragile intriguing solo performer at the piano (Meddle) she is now dolled up like Lauren Laverne’s cute sister (never a bad thing) swishing a tambourine and trying desperately to hold a note through New In Town. The song manages to hold together and the slightly convoluted chorus is a masterpiece. Remedy is another good pop tune but still lacks the subtle charms of Meddle. A great preview of the new album but only two songs?

Daniel Merriweather is one of those solo artists you either love or hate. Change is an ok song but the live performance, including some awful whistling, is whiny incompressible rubbish, inspired lamely by irony and the current American politic revolution. Merriweather’s attempt at modern soul is a lesson in how not to do it. The Mark Ronson arranged Stop Me was given a more subtle stripped down treatment but it still doesn’t work mainly down to Merriweather’s mumbling voice. Maybe he replaced Morrissey on the show. Cigarettes is a slow depressing drawl that transforms into more over-the-top screechy crooning. This is the sort of thing Ray LaMontagne can do in his sleep.

Also letting the testosterone-filled side down badly was the wonder that is Asher Roth. The title of La Di Di is a good example of what to expect from the supreme song writing. Like an Eminem for chavs, he spouted complete bollocks for three minutes, while managing to sustain no melody, structure or coherence whatsoever. He tries to get the crowd involved on Friday. When rap is good, it’s great - hard hitting and brutal. This is just weak and pointless. Thankfully he just gets one turn.

Annie Lennox is an interesting character these days - on the show to plug a new collection of old songs. On Tuesday she looked fired up on something as Jools introduced her, before she took over and proclaimed that everyone there is real and is performing live. She has been on the show before right? She now thinks that her voice is better now than it has ever been but I don’t think so. It is deeper for sure but that has reduced her range. Her performance of Little Bird however is gutsy, determined and just a bit mad - harking back to the Eurythmics days. She is a wonderful character and a real national treasure. The arrangement, featuring just a piano and her voice filling in the ’musical’ bits, and the performance is inhumanly good. Such a shame then that the archive footage of her on TOTP saw her miming badly…Not a great choice. The Friday interview was more focused on her new CD and her music tastes but repeated the clip. She is clearly still passionate about life and music - the medium with which to express oneself and to perform. Friday provides the slow arrangement of Here Comes The Rain Again, again with just Lennox on the piano. It is deeply melancholy and she is clearly lost in the song which loses its way terribly half way through and descends into pain and despair. An odd but impressive slice of theatre.

Highlight of the week is not one of the headliners. Lisa Hannigan showcased the best of her new album Sea Sew. A very inconsistent album that loses its way terribly, it has some really great well crafted pop-folk songs. I Don’t Know is one of them, brilliantly performed. First song on Friday was the gorgeous metaphor-filled Ocean And A Rock. Hannigan adds her own ‘distant’ backing vocals and keyboard accordion. Superb stuff. Sea Song is much more dark and dramatic but the weaker of the three songs.

Also great is Jon Allen. In Your Light is simple and effective and Allen has the best voice of the night, after Lennox and Hannigan. Sadly (how many times do I have to say this?) he is pushed aside for the likes of Merriweather and Asher Roth. The BBC need to sort out the talent. Please.

So in the absence of the unwell Morrissey, the show is dominated by great female musicians doing what they do best. Annie Lennox is solid and as interesting as ever, Little Boots is great and Lisa Hannigan steals the top prize. Daniel Merriweather and Asher Roth were truly forgettable and New York Dolls did little to prove that their new music is worth bothering with. So a typically messed up collection with the girls winning the battle of the sexes. And definitely worth watching both shows as there is a lot of different material.

Next week the return of Kasabian…