Taylor Swift,Red (Taylor’s Version) (Republic/Universal) ★★★★½
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Taylor Swift’s fight to reclaim her intellectual property by re-recording her first six albums has made headlines all year.Red (2012) is the second to get the treatment,but the most interesting aspects of it aren’t the note-perfect recreations of the record’s main songs. As onFearless(Taylor’s Version),unreleased tracks of the era are included,and here Swift takes the lead on two of her songs made famous by other artists:Babe (originally recorded by Sugarland,featuring Swift) andBetter Man(originally recorded by Little Big Town).
Both outshine the originals. Featured artists include long-time friend and collaborator Ed Sheeran and indie favourite Phoebe Bridgers,the latter taking aim at the way in which the music industry treats women on the quietly furiousNothing New. The centrepiece,though,is the long-mythologised 10-minute version of the breakup balladAll Too Well. Beautifully produced by the prolific Jack Antonoff in a softer,more filmic musical style (fitting,asit’s accompanied by a 15-minute film),it contains some of Swift’s best,most biting lyrics. That song alone is worth the price of admission,but it’s a pleasure to revisit one of Swift’s finest albums afresh.Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss,Raise the Roof(Warner Records) ★★★★★
Fourteen years ago,Robert Plant and Alison Krauss enthralled us with theRaising Sand album. Once again they’ve engaged the seasoned blues-and-roots maestro T Bone Burnett to guide proceedings,being in his element melding bluegrass,Americana and rootsy rock. Krauss and Plant sound so assured that there isn’t a single misstep as they interpret material from across the American blues,rock and folk spectrum,including songs by Merle Haggard,Lucinda Williams and The Everly Brothers. Burnett has wisely brought their voices to the fore:Krauss’ sophisticated,melodic soprano grounded by Plant’s world-weary,warm,gravelly tones,and their harmonies,as layered and gorgeous as the steel pedal guitar,earthy bass and delicate strings are,are at the music’s heart.
Quattro (World Drifts In) sets the mood:Plant’s singing is gently insistent,while Krauss’ is romantic,classically beautiful and dynamic,as they sing an immigrant’s song of escaping the world,feeling alienated,“Where fields are burning/ From the day you’re born”. Seamlessly they change the atmosphere only subtly to milk the yearning,bittersweet emotion fromThe Price of Love. The languid heartbeat of a drum creates space for noodling,moody guitar that echoes into desert-haze. Krauss takes the lead,sounding both dreamy and harrowingly hurt as she laments “the debt you pay with tears and pain/The price of love”. It’s easy to imagine a lone saloon where Krauss and Plant go to mend their broken pieces over sweet wine and bitter gin. His utter resignation and heartbroken Southern soul onYou Led Me To The Wrong is a tearjerker,and a rare track in which he doesn’t play second fiddle to Krauss.