Gossip
★★★★
Real Power
SONY MUSIC. CD/DL/LP
Real song power, that is. Gems galore on their first LP for 11 years.
Rick Rubin famously oversaw Gossip’s 2009 LP Music For Men, and it was at his request/ encouragement, we learn, that the group’s 2019 live reunion spilled over into this studio comeback. Hatched at Rubin’s tropical Kauai HQ, Real Power is a wondrous pairing of ’70s disco-influenced bangers and ’80s pop exuberance, nods to Chic (Give It Up For Love), Miami Sound Machine and Donna Summer (the brilliant title track), and the best instincts of Cyndi Lauper and Madonna all detectable. Beth Ditto’s Rolls-Royce of a voice is the divine electricity that powers it all, pitch-perfect and hugely emotive atop the percussive groove of Don’t Be Afraid, and bedding-down somewhere between Natalie Merchant and Chaka Khan on yet another doozy, Tell Me Something. Early contender for pop album of the year? Definitely. No wonder Rubin wanted to reconnect.