Various Artist
Album: Son Of Rogues Gallery
Label: Anti
Tracks: 36
Website: http://www.anti.com

Wow, this is a real rum gallery of musical rogues! And I love it! From the same makers comes a seven-years-on sequel to the wilfully-quirky-but-fun (ostensibly Pirates-Of-The-Caribbean-inspired) Rogues' Gallery set, in which a motley collection of unlikely musical celebrities and reprobates (and Johnny Depp), under the guidance of skipper/producer Hal Willner, spliced the proverbial mainbrace on an assortment of half-remembered shanties and other maritime-themed songs. Since which time, of course, shanties have become cool through the likes of Bellowhead… so there should be an even more ready market for Son Of Rogues' Gallery.

And it gives me the greatest pleasure to report that it's worth every one of your hard-plundered "pieces of eight", containing as it does at least two dozen seriously oddball delights amidst its three-dozen tracks (and thankfully no total disasters, although the intermittent feeling of impending shipwreck can be perversely appealing!). So, while space permits me, I'll give you a flavour of the variety and inventiveness of this set. In one definitive highlight, Ye Mariners All is given a towering west-coast-psych setting (and a majestic Bill Frisell solo) to complement Robin Holcomb and Jessika Kenny's vocals; Beth Orton turns in an eloquently moody reinvention of River Come Down; Ed Pastorini surprisingly wistfully intones the Good Cap'n (Beefheart)'s classic Orange Claw Hammer; Marc Almond shows unexpected trad-folkie-cred on a bayan-backed rendition of Ship In Distress; Tom Waits gargles tons of gravel into Shenandoah (with Keith Richards providing the mid-track guitar solo); Michael Stipe and Courtney Love do a widescreen duet on Rio Grande; Jenni Muldaur delivers Row The Boat Child with tear-jerking tenderness; Robyn Hitchcock exuberantly embraces the shanty Sam's Gone Away; Patti Smith's Mermaid embraces a twangy Spectoresque shuffle beat; Dr. John speaks in eerie gris-gris tongues on In Lure Of The Tropics; and Gavin Friday & Shannon McNally give us a moodily emotional rendition of Tom's Gone To Hilo. I rather liked Anjelica Huston's echoey string-backed account of Missus McGraw; Macy Gray gets enticingly shipwrecked off the Jamaicy coast when Off To Sea Once More; Katey Red & Big Freedia make a glorious Sally Racket; and Shane MacGowan growls menacingly and drunkenly, almost parodying himself, through The Leaving Of Liverpool.

Meanwhile, in the battle of the stormalongs, Richard Thompson's mighty folk-rocker General Taylor easily emerges victorious over Ivan Neville's aimless swamp ambler Mr. Stormalong. Similarly, Kenny Wolleson's blowsy, over-orchestrated Bear Away didn't do anything for me, and Shilpa Ray's gut-wrenching account of Pirate Jenny is way over-theatrical, as is Kembra Pfahler's hammer-horror incarnation of Barnacle Bill The Sailor. Todd Rundgren's authentically electro-disco version of Rolling Down To Old Maui, though great fun, may pall after a couple of plays, while Iggy Pop's Asshole Rules The Navy is embarrassing if good-humoured. By the way, two of the tracks on Disc 2 have been culled from the archives: Frank Zappa with the late-'67-vintage-Mothers tackles a snatch of The Handsome Cabin Boy as if it were an Uncle Meat outtake, while Marianne Faithfull and Kate & Anna McGarrigle make the hairs rise with Flandyke Shore (taken from Marianne's 2008 Easy Come, Easy Go covers album).

This is a treasure-chest of a release which should emphatically not be consigned to Davy Jones' Locker. And as a bonus it comes with thorough, excellent and complete credits documentation too. Now shall we fantasise ahead to Son Of Son Of (might it include a long-lost recording of Jim Morrison doing a classic sea ballad?… we can only dream!…).

David Kidman