Not Forgotten – Half Man Half Biscuit – Back in the D.H.S.S.
The current documentary series on BBC4 on the history of the Indie music labels here in the UK has made for great watching so far, having so far detailed the rise of the indies in the late 70s, and their flourishing in the 80s. I have had but one minor quibble with the series so …
A buyers’ guide to Queen
It’s often said that it’s always the quiet ones that you have to watch. Apparently no one ever told Freddie Mercury this, as for the best part of two decades he preened and strutted across the music industry as frontman of Queen, connecting with live audiences in a way that no one in rock music …
Not Forgotten – Deep Purple – Machine Head
The sixth studio album of their career, and the third by their much celebrated Mk2 line up, Deep Purple were very much in the ascendant when they set out to record Machine Head. While there had certainly been distractions in the form of a major line up change and Jon Lord’s much celebrated Concerto for …
Not Forgotten: XTC – Oranges & Lemons
Oranges and Lemons is an album that has spent the twenty six years since its release trying to put behind it the fans disappointment that it wasn’t as good as Skylarking. The thing is, there are precious few albums as good as XTC’s 1986 masterpiece, so anyone expecting Partridge, Moulding and Gregory to release something …
Album Review – Ben Folds – So There
The history of rock and pop artists dabbling in orchestral music is long and uneven. From Deep Purple’s lumpy Concerto for Group and Orchestra, to the splendid soundtrack work of Randy Newman, it’s been a mixed bag and unless the musician in question has the appropriate grounding in music theory, it can result in something …
A buyers’ guide to AC/DC 1975 – 1981
There is a school of thought that you don’t actually need to know what an individual AC/DC album sounds like, you just need to know if it’s any good… If there is one band that stuck to a formula throughout their career, then it’s AC/DC. Hell, even Status Quo transitioned from their Carnaby Street phase …
Not Forgotten: Kate Bush – The Red Shoes
Oddly unappreciated by all but her most devoted her fans, and seemingly Kate Bush herself, I find The Red Shoes to be one of her most fascinating albums. Having established herself as a phenomenally creative spirit over her first four albums, in which she rapidly transitioned from exciting debut, to consolidation, to pop experimentalism, to …
Not Forgotten: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are one of the great rock and roll bands of the American Heartland. Every bit as accessible as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, they’re huge in the USA, yet they have always had oddly inconsistent commercial success in the UK. This is really rather odd, as Tom Petty …
Album Review: Lianne La Havas – Blood
Sometimes an initial listen to a new album can give you the wrong impression. When I heard Lianne La Havas’ sophomore effort in early August, it threw me slightly. Having appreciated her debut album as an enjoyable offering of pop-flecked neo-soul, I was fascinated to hear where she’d go next, but I was temporarily bamboozled …
Not Forgotten – PJ Harvey – Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
Sometimes heading for more calmer, more easily accessible waters is a good thing. Take PJ Harvey for instance, for years she had been known as a lady with a penchant for the shouty, confrontational and vitriolic. The trouble was she always seemed to possess an unfulfilled desire to create music that one day may get …