Reflecting the trio’s particular range of influences this latest installment of Late Night Tales sounds that bit more contemporary than Metronomy’s previous selection, but is no less telling. In this case the music spans the sexy Disco of Joe Simon’s ‘Love Vibration’ via Dennis Parker’s heavenly ‘Fly Like An Eagle’, but as the series is as much about tangents as anything else the mood eventually alters to induce Stereolab’s beautiful hippy-esque ‘The Black Arts’ and Grouper’s tastefully melancholic ‘Invisible’. Friendly Fires own ‘Why Don’t You Answer’ joins together the points of reference neatly with their only inclusion on this excellent compilation, which also touches upon the diversity of Cocteau Twins ‘Cherry-Coloured Funk’ and even Olivia Newton-John’s excusably, sentimental ‘Love Song’. This is a selection of music that reaches the heights of exhilaration one moment, while then plummeting the depths of introspection the next, making it an invaluable experience – not least due to one Benedict Cumberbatch who ends by reading ‘Part 1 of Flat Of Angles’ no less.
5 out of 5
Reviewed by Greg Fenton
