Sadie And The Hotheads

Sadie & The Hotheads are a seven piece UK band that have just completed a 27 date tour of the country to widespread acclaim - off the back of this release, their third studio album. Although described as a mixture of a number of genres (and there are splashes of country, folk and celtic music), a rich lacing of jazz dominates across the 13 tracks included.

Elizabeth McGovern leads the vocals, with a typical lazy jazzy style, that suits perfectly some of the gentler tracks, such as the self-penned Mother Mary and Charles Aznavour's Times We've Known. The mood of those gentle ballads is pretty typical, with some exquisite playing from the likes of Simon and Steve Nelson. Less successful are the covers of Stayin' Alive and Wild Horses (with a guest appearance from Gretchen Peters), which lend a new feel to the songs - but also lose any of either's original dynamism.

Former Genesis star Mike Rutherford appears on guitar on the fun Feel It, with its country-style lyrics; "I gotta dog, she aint gotta plan. She barks all night, just because she can". Later there are references to sheep and monkeys - and if nothing else it makes you smile. It's tricky to capture that live energy on record - but perhaps that's the disappointing aspect here, that there's just not enough fun.