Classic Album: Dire Straits – Brothers in Arms
That’s the trouble with first love – it only ever happens once. While some of us finally find what we are looking for later in life, you can never turn the clock back and recapture that feeling you had when you were a goofy adolescent with your hormones bubbling over and lusting after someone that …
Not Forgotten: The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
From the first press they received here in the UK, it’s fair to say that The White Stripes came across as gimmicky as hell. Allegedly brother and sister, the garage rock duo restricted their wardrobe to red, white and black (which at least would make sorting loads for the washing machine relatively easy, but potentially …
Classic Album: Motorhead – No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith
Black clad, rickenbecker-bass wielding, rock and roll enthusiast Lemmy spent much of his post-Hawkwind career fronting Motorhead, a band that could play a range of slow, medium and fast-paced numbers, as long as they were loud. No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith was a well-received live album which cast a long, often mutton-chopped shadow over the band’s …
Classic Album (Glastonbury 2016 Special Pt4): Coldplay – Viva la Vida
Has there been any other band that have endured such a prolonged kicking by the cool kids as Coldplay over the last decade? On one hand, they are a hugely popular, continent-straddling, stadium-filling, radio-friendly rock band with a social conscious. Millions around the globe adore their music and whatever they do in the next few …
Not Forgotten (Glastonbury 2016 Special Pt3): Electric Light Orchestra – Eldorado
The clue is in the name. Electric Light Orchestra. The brainchild of Jeff Lynne and fellow Brummie and future Wizzard Roy Wood, they had initially started out as sideshoot of Sixties popsters The Move. They got off to a good start too, with debut single “10538 Overture” becoming a top ten single, however their self-titled …
Classic Album (Glastonbury 2016 Special Pt2): Adele – 19
Adele, that icon of modern popular song, seems to be quite a divisive character. While she has an undoubtedly splendid voice, she has attracted a fair amount of criticism for her writing, nowhere more so than here on her debut album. Consider this though, this debut was released when she was 19 years old right? …
Classic Album (Glastonbury 2016 Special Pt1): Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
Few would dispute the fact that Muse have been one of the most consistently successful British rock bands of the last twenty years. The unchanging power-trio line up has steadily mined a seem of modern rock that has seen them release a string of high-charting albums, which has seen them plastered across the front pages …
Not Forgotten: Edwyn Collins – Doctor Syntax
Released several years after the splendidly varied I’m Not Following You, and years after the wave of interest caused by “A Girl Like You” had long since dissipated, Doctor Syntax found Edwyn Collins at an interesting point in his career. Quietly critically lauded, any new release by the former Orange Juice frontman would always achieve …
Classic Album: Queen – Sheer Heart Attack
Sometimes when a band gets it right, the results can blow their previous work clean out of the water. Sheer Heart Attack was the first album where Queen got it unarguably right, despite it being still consisting of elements of hard rock, prog and glam, this time they were blended in such a way that …
Not Forgotten: Fuzzy Duck
Sometimes curiosity can get the best of most of us. From the gloriously weird cover art, to the band’s name being a spoonerism, there’s enough here to indicate that there’s something just a bit offbeat going on with Fuzzy Duck’s debut album. Add to this the fact that a bit of research reveals that it …