Not Forgotten: They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18
Apollo 18 is the album that cemented They Might Be Giants as an act that would endure rather than burn briefly. Sure, the hit single “Birdhouse in Your Soul” had dragged its parent album, Flood into the charts in its wake, but TMBG already felt the need to play around with their sound, resulting in …
Not Forgotten: Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
From a modern perspective, it’s staggering to look back at the career of Aretha Franklin and realised that at the point in her career in 1967, when I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You was released, it was in fact her eleventh full length album since 1961. Franklin had already recorded ten …
Not Forgotten: Big Star – #1 Record
Influential albums are something that I approach with trepidation, especially when they are by acts that are considered to be ‘cult’. As massively influential as albums like The Velvet Underground and Nico, Forever Changes and Horses have proved to be down the decades, they’ve never really made any connection with me. They’re great albums for …
Not Forgotten: The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Behind the Music
Retro rock is a risky business. If you pay homage to your influences too closely you risk ending up in a creative cul-de-sac, where your fans don’t need to know what your new album is like, only if it is any good. In a worse case scenario you could do all you can to emulate …
Album Review: FFS – FFS
FFS are a supergroup in the purest sense. Two musical acts, seperated by a generation, combining to release an album which will hopefully combine the best bits of their respective sounds. It’s particularly interesting for me though, as I’ve had contrasting fan-relationships with the two acts. I liked Franz Ferdinand from the moment I heard …
Not Forgotten: Harry Nilsson – Son of Schmilsson
Having a hit with “Without You”, the power-ballad that still out power-ballads all other power-ballads, had left Harry Nilsson in a uniquely enviable position of being a vastly talented singer songwriter who enjoyed his biggest hit singles with cover versions of material by other world-class songwriters. Oh and to sweeten the deal he didn’t even …
Not Forgotten: Aphrodite’s Child – 666
Every now and again I encounter an album which seems to exist in its own bubble. Aphrodite’s Child are a band I had certainly heard of, but I couldn’t name you any of their songs, although realising that following their split, half of them would individually achieve international mega-fame as Vangelis and Demis Roussos is …
Not Forgotten: The Allman Brothers Band – Brothers and Sisters
Brothers and Sisters was the album where The Allman Brothers Band made a concerted effort to rebuild themselves following the blow of the death of slide guitar maestro Duane Allman in 1971. Guitar player Dickey Betts had assumed leadership of the band, and he takes sole credit for four of the seven tracks that make …
Not Forgotten: Paul Simon – Paul Simon
Simon and Garfunkel had enjoyed astoundingly success and were at the peak of the commercial powers when Paul Simon decided that had had tired of sharing the limelight and followed the signposts down the path towards his solo career. While it had been Art Garfunkel’s vocals which had received high praise, Simon had matured into …
Feature: Shelved albums – a celebration.
The history of popular song is littered with unreleased albums. The explanations for these albums being unreleased can vary from record label apathy, recording facilities just not being up to scratch, or the act simply having a change of heart / musical direction at the eleventh hour. There are of course a number of legendary …