Classic Albums
News: Farewell Bastard Song, By Toad – a celebration
A few days back Matthew Young who runs Song, By Toad Records let slip that he was calling it a day. While a decade of doing anything is a lot and it’s often better for everyone that people move on and do new stuff, Song, By Toad will be missed – not least by me. …
Classic Album: Blondie – Parallel Lines
Having previously transitioned from first-wave punks to the cutting edge of the new wave, their third album, Parallel Lines, found Blondie as an unashamed pop band, a fact underlined by a production job by former glam-rock hit-producer Mike Chapman. It opens with a trio of deserved hit singles, putting on a show of surprising versatility, …
Blu-ray Review: The Changeling
George C. Scott is one a few actors who managed to have a successful career which spanned several decades. He received his first Oscar nomination for his role in Anatomy of a Murder in 1959. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Patton in 1970, which he refused, and was also up for …
Not Forgotten: Billy Joel – An Innocent Man
Billy Joel is a musician who has always been capable of greatness. The Stranger is a brilliant slice of singer songwriter greatness, and Cold Spring Harbor is a genuinely pretty album that remains ripe for rediscovery. He could even knock out a novelty hit like “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” with insolent ease. …
New Music – Morcheeba – Blaze Away LP
Back with their ninth album entitled ‘Blaze Away’ its been a long journey for Morcheeba from their humble beginnings back in the mid 90’s when they started out as a three-piece ensemble consisting of producers Ross Godfrey, Paul Godfrey and vocalist Skye Edwards. Their downtempo electronic chillout won the hearts of music lovers around the …
Classic Album: Small Faces – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake
By and large, there are some albums that transcend the era of popular music they were recorded in, and then there are some that remain forever tied to the culture and attitudes of the era. There is a very small group of albums that manage to do be both, or neither. Released in 1968, Small …
Classic Album: Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells
I used to listen to Tubular Bells endlessly when I was about sixteen. Back then it seemed like some the most exciting music ever made, two massive suites of throbbing instrumental prog recorded by one bloke, a few mates, and one of the great British raconteurs as Master of Ceremonies. Two dozen years later my …
Classic Album: Iron Maiden – Piece of Mind
As Backseat Mafia’s ongoing series of Buyers and Beginners Guides demonstrate, picking your way around a discography of a well established musical act can be full of pitfalls and delightfully distracting cul-de-sacs. Even those well versed with the vagaries of music fandom can fall foul of not starting off with the right albums, or getting …
Classic Album: Iron Maiden – Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Iron Maiden are a band whose name I have always known, but it is only in recent months that I have felt the impulse to actually investigate their work outside of a best of compilation. Crucial to my interest being tweaked has been the ongoing series of documentaries which have been generously provided on the …
Classic Album: Simon & Garfunkel – Bookends
For those that purchased Bookends when it was first released in 1968, it might have come as something of a surprise that a folk-pop duo would have taken on board some of the psychedelic influences of some of their rowdier contemporaries. Yet there are the heavy electronic sounds that open up “Save the Life of …