Reissue: Ashford & Simpson – I Wanna Be Selfish
Everyone loves stone classic Ain’t No Mountain High Enough but it was just one of the many hits penned by songwriting guns for hire Ashford & Simpson, But like many top class songwriters who provide the guide tracks as they demo their hits they decided to go for it themselves and their second album saw …
Album reissue: Chaka Khan – What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me
It’s ironic this album is seen as one of Chaka Khan’s more jazzy albums as it is way, way funkier than most artists could ever hope to be. This is the latest in a long line of fantastic reissues by BBR of lost soul /funk classics, and this is an album that really stands the …
Live Review: Cage The Elephant at Unity Works Wakefield
Two songs in and crazed Cage the Elephant frontman Matt Shultz has already plunged into the crowd to have a good natured wrestle down the front with his surprisingly young fans. Matt is like a wild animal onstage leaping around as if processed by the sheer spirit of rock and roll combining the sinuous moves …
Live review: Rosie Lowe at Headrow House
Sometimes you turn up a small venue like the intimate upstairs space in hipster mecca Headrow House and leave thinking that’s the last time you’ll see the headline act this up close and personal. Rosie Lowe is one of those performers out plugging her debut album Control, but she has the full package – a …
Reissue: George Jones – Cold Hard Truth/Live With The Possum
Even people who hate country have heard of Dolly or Kenny, but ironically the late, great George Jones outsold the pair of them despite hardly anyone on this side of the pond having heard of him. Cold Hard Truth is late period Jones recorded after years of drunken hellraising that put him in the same …
Meet: The Scaffold’s Mike McCartney on the reissue of the McGough & McGear album
Most novelty number ones are rubbish but a notable exception to this rule is The Scaffold’s flower power classic Lily The Pink which still raises a happy smile five decades on. The Scaffold’s nucleus of comedian John Gorman, poet Roger McGough and songwriter Mike McGear emerged from the fertile early 1960s Liverpool theatre scene before …
Box set review: Skeletal Family- Eternal: Singles, Albums, Rarities, BBC Sessions, Demos 1982-2015
The Skeletal Family were part of the Goth sub-culture that sprang up in the 1980s but they were never really in the movement’s first division like The Sisters of Mercy or The Mission. But their unique selling point was they had a female singer Anne-Marie Hurst and it is her powerful vocals, with more than …
Reissue: Julia Fordham – Julia Fordham
God, if this album was any more 1980s it would come with a free Ra Ra skirt and fluorescent leg warmers. But despite the overproduced tinny guitars, hideous fretless bass and synthesised keyboards, that are so redolent of the time, it is saved by Julia Fordham’s gorgeous smoky jazz tinged voice. Fordham was one of …
News: Rosie Lowe announces debut album ‘Control’ & UK tour
Rosie Lowe is the latest what seems like an never ending production line of talented English singer/songwriters and on a wave of massive media hype she releases her debut album Control on February 19. The Devon-born musician co-produced the album with Dave Okumu, and her smart songwriting shows exactly why artists like Little Simz, The Invisible, Kwabs, Ady …
Album review: Ashford & Simpson – Gimme Me Something Real (expanded edition)
Ashford & Simpson made their name knocking out tunes for Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Aretha, Diana Ross and Chaka Khan before joining a long list of songwriters who one day decided to put their own names on the sleeves. Their debut album from this husband and wife team takes its cue from the pop …