Artiste: Billy Idol

Album: Dream Into It

Rating: ***

Billy Idol keeps his leather jacket on and his rebellious ways of making music on his first album in almost 11 years. Dream Into It contains tales of rock ’n’ roll excess, but he delivers the stories tongue firmly in cheek.

The familiar deep voice strikes when he sings of his mistakes and triumphs on the title track: First came luck, then pressure/ One man rollercoaster/ Around the world like phantoms/ I didn’t care what would happen.

The album title reminds listeners of the violence and the thrills of the UK punk scene of the 1980s. There is something of a higher energy at play on tracks like Too Much Fun, a portrait of his booze-addled years: I’ve had that fatal charm ever since I was young/ I’m not leaving until I say I’m done.

The record even throws in a few surprises, like a duet with pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne on 77. Their vocals have a bouncy energy. Alison Mosshart features on John Wayne and Joan Jett on Wildside. Jett’s smokey vocals balance Idol’s rich tones to the point of becoming Johnny Cash playing Nine Inch Nails: If I let you win, then we both lose/ I still got a wildside and sometimes.

The music is nostalgic, returning to the ’80s with guitar power chords. But most of the album has a predictable pattern, looking back at the murkier side of stardom. It mostly sounds like a medley of the stories we have already heard.

Artiste: Willie Nelson

Album: Oh What A Beautiful World

Rating: ****

Willie Nelson is timeless. To celebrate his 92nd birthday, he has released his 77th solo album on which he sounds defiant and delivers music packed with wisdom. Produced by Buddy Cannon, the album contains 12 songs, all written by the songwriter Rodney Crowell, another country music legend.

Known for his conversational delivery style, Nelson sounds relaxed. Given his age, the voice still sounds surprisingly strong in songs like What Kind of Love and She’s Back In Town. Oh What A Beautiful World is more of a feeling, reflecting on the world and time going by. He sings on Making Memories of Us: Speak the language in a voice that you have never heard/ I want to sleep with you forever/ And I want to die in your arms/ In a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm.

With all the hallmarks of a latter-day Nelson, there is a sense of sincerity running through the album. He rattles off lines with his trademark insouciance (Your little lap dog chased a fox tailed squirrel ‘cross the main road through the wood/ Some ninja on a dirt bike nearly ran him down for good on Forty Miles From Nowhere) and the lines are as much spoken as sung.

On the album are tunes that have been recorded by musicians such as Tim McGraw (Open Season On My Heart) and Keith Urban (Making Memories of Us) and a ballad co-written with Guy Clark (Stuff That Works). One can hear the problems age can throw at a strong voice, but that is overcome by a strong musicianship. The big metaphors stand on their own and you can feel the winning combination of nostalgia and humour.

Artiste: Smokey Robinson

Album: What the World Needs Now

Rating: ***

At age 85, Smokey Robinson doesn’t have anything new to prove. The founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles delivers songs like You’ve Got A Friend and Lean On Me effortlessly.

Robinson’s new recordings of artistes, including Bob Marley and Carole King, celebrate his unmistakable voice. His honeyed tenor offers a completely different feel to Bob Marley’s 1977 hit Three Little Birds and he keeps the listener happy on What A Wonderful World... his buttery vocals melt hearts.

There’s a lot of beautiful piano and gorgeous acoustic guitar accompaniment, all reminding us of the legacy of the Detroit native. Robinson obviously is at a point where he puts out albums for his listening pleasure. Here he does it like he has done a thousand times before. There are no surprises, not even in terms of arrangement.

Artiste: Neil Young

Album: Coastal OST

Rating: *****

Neil Young continues to be busy. He has a new band called Chrome Hearts, and they have a tour coming up. During his 2023 tour, he dived deep into his catalogue, playing live rarities, inspiring his movie-star wife Daryl Hannah to direct a concert movie called Coastal, which offers an intimate behind-the-scenes depiction of the tour.

The soundtrack is a companion piece to the documentary and features 11 songs selected from Young’s 60-year career, ranging from the powerful Vampire Blues to the beautiful When I Hold You In My Arms. It is as intimate a live album as Young has ever recorded, created when the world was leaving the Covid years behind. ‘Young Unguarded’ would have been an appropriate title.