Not Forgotten: Sparks – Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins
Sparks were in a weird position in the mid 90s. Once one of the most subversively inspirational acts, by the time Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins was released, The Mael Brothers has been overtaken both commercially and artistically by some of the very acts that they had inspired, most obviously Pet Shop Boys. From it’s sphincter tighteningly bad …
Not Forgotten: Supertramp – Crime of the Century
Few fans of the band wouldn’t argue that Crime of the Century is by far and away Supertramp’s best album.
Not Forgotten: The Wonder Stuff – Hup
While 1987’s The Eight Legged Groove Machine was The Wonder Stuff’s statement of intent, ultimately it was little more than thrillingly scruffy post-punk guitar thrash aimed squarely at the pop charts. It was utterly brilliant for what it was, but ultimately it was the type of album that a band could only release once, with any attempt …
Not Forgotten: Super Furry Animals – Guerrilla
For years I felt that Guerrilla was Super Furry Animals‘ untidiest album by some distance, never quite really holding it as close to my heart as I have their other albums, despite SFA being one of one of my favourite bands. Regardless of my how much Guerrilla has baffled me down the years, the opening five numbers of the album have …
Classic Album: Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin’s debut album was proof of concept for Jimmy Page, taking what Cream did with super-charged blues-rock, and just making it more slick and dynamic and marketing it directly at the North American market. With a Golden God frontman, a powerhouse drummer and a fourth band mate who could pretty much play whatever the …
Not Forgotten: Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
Follow ups to successful albums where the primary ingredient was humour are few and far between. Humour is a transient thing and can fall out of fashion even quicker than music (just look at how arse-clenchingly unfunny a big-at-the-time Little Britain looks these days), so there are very few acts that maintain a consistent level of humour …
Classic Compilation: Barenaked Ladies – Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits (1991-2001)
Barenaked Ladies continue to get a bad rap, particularly here in the UK, where they are primarily known for their one hit wonder status courtesy of “One Week”, and the theme to love it / hate it mainstream comedy The Big Bang Theory. While admittedly knowing, arch, and just a bit too smart-arse, Barenaked Ladies …
Not Forgotten: Suede – Dog Man Star
For all the hype around the band, in retrospect Suede’s self titled debut album was pretty damn ordinary, with only a few decent singles to mark the band out as anything above average. Despite this, in Brett Anderson they had a fine vocalist, and in Bernard Butler they had one of the UK’s hottest young guitar …
Not Forgotten: The Beautiful South – Welcome to the Beautiful South
There are some songs from your childhood that you clearly remember hearing on the radio for the first time. It was summer 1989, and it was a period of change in my life which my ten year old self was feeling pretty optimistic about. My family were about to move house, I was about to …
Not Forgotten: R.E.M. – Monster
The late 80s and early 90s had seen U2 get big. Too big. They seemed to have reached critical mass with the live / studio hybrid Rattle and Hum, but a creative reset on 1991’s Achtung Baby had seen them find a touch more equilibrium and sound considerably less like a band who created a …