The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner

This is the kind of music I'd like to be able to enjoy but simply can't. Independently, the various components - the piano, the string arrangements, the guitar choruses, the odd bits of futuristic sampling, even the slightly whiny vocals - are interesting in a Tindersticks, experimental kind of way. There's lots of styles, from jazz to lounge to almost-country, all very American, and the piano is good throughout. It's the vocals that really bring it down for me, because I find them grating and out of tune.

Early tracks like 'Don't Change Your Plans,' 'Mess' and 'Magic' are redeemed by good instrumentation, including the ever mellow cello, but the album takes a dive in the middle with two dirges called 'Army' and 'Hospital Song'. Sadly it doesn't really pick up after that, though 'Regret', a lounge track, is OK. Some of the others, however, are painfully bland. Overall, The Unauthorised Biography of Reinhold Messner is just a bit dull and uninspired. If you like a bit of bite in your music,

forget it.