Not Forgotten: Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords
As I have aged I have been slowly but surely reaching the conclusion that comedy, or more specifically, what the individual finds funny is a deeply personal thing, perhaps even more so than music. If you’re watching a film, television programme or stand up comedian who everyone around you is laughing at, yet it / …
Not Forgotten: Hawkwind – Space Ritual
There are some acts that have survived only to prove that drugs really do not work. Hawkwind are perhaps the most enduring of all the drug casualty groups, causing a world shortage of acid since the late 60s, a bewildering output of dozens of official and unofficial albums, and an even more bewildering array of …
Not Forgotten: Rainbow – Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
The artistic success of Rainbow’s first two albums had emboldened an army of bootleggers to try and capture the live thrills Ritchie Blackmore’s quintet of hard rockers. This had in turn prompted Blackmore himself to make the rather questionable decision to release an official live album, effectively to scupper the bootleg market for Rainbow live …
Not Forgotten: Tori Amos – From the Choirgirl Hotel
In retrospect From The Choirgirl Hotel was an important album for Tori Amos. By 1998, despite a couple of medium sized hit singles earlier in the decade, she was in danger of being known in the mainstream for just the (admittedly enjoyable) dance remix of “Professional Widow”, at least by the wider record buying public. …
Not Forgotten: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – You’re Gonna Get It!
You’re Gonna Get It! finds Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers in a darker, slightly more sinister mood than their debut. Production wise, it remains in the same ballpark, and the songwriting is of a similar level, but it’s just a little more narky and unsettled. It’s actually a really smart approach to differentiating between the …
Not Forgotten: Billy Bragg – Life’s a Riot With Spy vs Spy
Is it an album? Is it an EP? To be honest Life’s a Riot With Spy vs Spy is 35 years old now, and still no one is entirely sure how to classify it. What is not up for the debate is that it heralded the arrival of Billy Bragg to a music scene that …
Not Forgotten: The Replacements – Hootenanny
Even this early in their career The Replacements seemed determined to represent the everyman and be utterly relatable to their audience, who by and large were kids from the suburbs just like they had been just a few short years before. While The Replacements’ 1981 debut, the gloriously sloppy Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out …
Not Forgotten: Goldfrapp – Black Cherry
From the opening electronic beats of “Crystalline Green”, it was obvious that Goldfrapp’s sophomore album was not going to be a retread of their well received debut. Gone is the epic glacier of sound that represented Felt Mountain, with Black Cherry being something more, a tinnier and grimier sound more attuned to the body (specifically …
Not Forgotten: Half Man Half Biscuit – CSI: Ambleside
I must admit it, on initial listening on the day of its release I was deeply disappointed in CSI: Ambleside, having fallen head over heels for the hook-laden charms of its predecessor, Achtung Bono. By comparison Half Man Half Biscuit’s 2008 magnum opus just didn’t seem to have as much to offer in the way …
Not Forgotten: World Party – Bang!
Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. Having served time in The Waterboys during their most consistently good period, Karl Wallinger realised that his musical ambitions would inevitably find themselves at loggerheads with Mike Scott’s own at some point in the future, so he had left that band …