Album reviews: Camera Obscura, The Stranglers, Hugh Laurie...

Camera Obscura - Desire Lines (4AD) ****

The music of Glasgow favourites Camera Obscura reached a wider audience than they could ever have imagined when their song French Navy was used to sponsor the ad breaks for Come Dine With Me. And anyone who fell in love with their sunny sound in front of the telly will find much to love in this, their fifth album. Tracyanne Campbell's warm-but-knowing vocals are used to their full potential on tracks like New Year's Resolution, Troublemaker and Do It Again. The album was made in America, and you can hear an echo of Nashville in the likes of Fifth In Line to the Throne, which has a surprise in store - backing vocals from the sublime Neko Case.

The Stranglers - The Old Testament (EMI) ****

This expanded version of The Stranglers’ anthology brings together the first six albums that Guildford’s finest musical exports recorded for United Artists  along with a generous assortment of singles, B-sides and rarities. The group  may have risen to prominence during the punk era, but Dave Greenfield’s inventive keyboard work and Jean-Jacques Burnel’s melodic bass always set them apart from many of their less gifted contemporaries, and this definitive five-CD set provides the ideal introduction to their forceful and uncompromising sound.

Hugh Laurie - Didn’t It Rain (Warner Bros) ***

The amiable actor continues his mildly self-indulgent exploration of American blues with this, a mellow and warm-hearted collection which  finds him stepping out of the spotlight on several tracks as vocal duties are delegated to Guatemalan singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno and soul singer Jean McClain. The legendary Taj Mahal also makes an impressive guest appearance on Little Brother Montgomery’s “Vicksburg Blues,” and Laurie’s well drilled backing band are in particularly fine form on an extended version of WC Handy’s St Louis Blues.

Various Artists -  After Sun (Fantastic Voyage) ****

This absorbing three CD set explores the work of the seminal blues, rockabilly and R&B acts who cut their teeth as aspiring young musicians at Sam Phillips’  legendary Sun Studios during the mid-fifties, alongside the label's most famous son, Elvis. Unusually, this anthology concentrates on music made after they had left the Sun fold, with compelling offerings from the likes of BB King, Howlin’ Wolf and Elvis Presley rubbing shoulders with some splendid obscurities culled from the archives of a string of long forgotten American record labels.