Album Review: The Divine Comedy – Foreverland
Now a dozen albums into their career, The Divine Comedy have steadily carved their own unique niche into the musical landscape over the last twenty seven years. While Foreverland breaks little in the way of new ground for Neil Hannon and his bandmates, it continues to steadily build on what has already proved to be …
Album Review: Ed Harcourt – Furnaces
In a music scene still crammed full of post-Jeff Buckley singer songwriters, Ed Harcourt has been criminally overlooked down the years, especially when you consider that he’s only released one album and one single which have hit the top 40 charts here in the UK. Having released a critically lauded debut in Here Be Monsters, …
Album Review: Dolly Parton – Pure and Simple
I can’t remember a time when I hadn’t heard of Dolly Parton. As I grew up during the 80s, Parton always seemed to be part of the cultural background noise, and as the years have progressed she has seemingly remained a constant fixture. As my taste in music developed through the years, Parton was never …
News: The Magnetic Fields reissue 69 Love Songs on vinyl
When a colleague recently turned around and asked me out of the blue what the one album I would take to a desert island with me, I said The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs without hesitation. Okay, so naming an album which stretches across three CDs was something of a cheat, but really, I couldn’t …
Album Review: The Chris Robinson Brotherhood – Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel
When The Black Crowes went on hiatus a few years ago, it’s probably fair to say that few of their fans held any great hopes out for either of the Robinson brothers releasing anything but sporadic niche-appeal vanity projects until the band regrouped. The fact that Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel is …
Not Forgotten: Vernon Elliott – Clangers: Original Television Music
Do you remember when a group of knitted pink miniature aardvarks to rocked your world? More action-packed than Bagpuss, cooler than Chorlton and the Wheelies, more psychedelic than Jamie and The Magic Torch and less mainstream than The Wombles, when it came to kids TV in my early youth, only the incomparable Danger Mouse rocked …
Buyers’ Guide: Slade – Live
Perhaps more than at any other point in the history of popular song, the early 70s were a schizophrenic time for rock music, particularly here in the UK, with a sharp contrast between the singles and albums charts. In the album charts, heavyweights like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and a whole host of other hairy …
Not Forgotten: Rush – Rush
With them having spent the last four decades carving out the most enduring career of all the iconic prog rock acts, hearing Rush’s self titled debut for the first time can come as something as a shock to the newcomer. The only one of their albums not to feature drummer, lyricist and former tractor salesman, …
Not Forgotten: Matt Berry – Opium
A few weeks ago my father-in-law asked me, as the family’s resident source of music recommendations, if there was an act in the contemporary music scene that I was genuinely excited about. “Matt Berry”, was my immediate answer. The reason for my lack of hesitation in my response was simple. Other than Half Man Half …
Not Forgotten: The Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Tomorrow Belongs to Me
Absolutely uncategorisable throughout their career, by 1975, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were still in pursuit of an elusive hit singles, but album wise Tomorrow Belongs to Me followed hot on the heels of the brilliant The Impossible Dream, and proved beyond a doubt that its predecessor was in no way a fluke hit. Rocker …