Not Forgotten
Not Forgotten: Half Man Half Biscuit – And Some Fell on Stony Ground
Half Man Half Biscuit are one of those bands where if you’re a fan you either have, or want, everything they’ve ever recorded (a pristine copy of “No Regrets” still eludes me). By contrast if you’re not a fan then you’ll be baffled as to why such a stupidly named novelty act would inspire such …
Not Forgotten: Babybird – Ugly Beautiful
It’s difficult to comprehend just how much airplay Babybird’s “You’re Gorgeous” received back in 1996. Listening back to it now, it still stands up as a great pop song, albeit one with far more dark and sinister lyrical content than it’s success suggests. It was a massive crossover hit, and something quite unexpected for Sheffield’s …
Not Forgotten: Rick Wakeman – Journey to the Centre of the Earth
It can’t be easy having been the interesting member of Yes. While the rest of that most hilariously pompous prog-rock act had their heads firmly jammed up their own derrieres, keyboard twiddling cape fancier Rick Wakeman alone was responsible for ‘keeping it real’. Or as real as things can be when your vocalist sounds like …
Not Forgotten: The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
By September 2006 The Hold Steady had already released Almost Killed Me and Separation Sunday, two of the finest rock and roll records of the millennium, and were poised to release Boys and Girls in America, just at the very point that the wider world was starting to take notice of them. Having already established …
Not Forgotten: Little Feat – The Last Record Album
With a career that had already seen them perfect a spicy blend of southern rock, blues, country and soulful funk elements, by 1975’s The Last Record Album, Little Feat were well established as one of the most interesting American rock acts of the 70s. However, band leader Lowell George had already started to surrender a …
Not Forgotten: Blonde Redhead – Masculin féminin
Seemingly permanently entrenched in the fringes of the independent scene, Blonde Redhead have been with us for 23 years now, releasing nine albums for four different record labels. On 30 September The Numero group are releasing Masculin féminin, a two disc compilation consisting of their first two albums and a load of other contemporary material …
Not Forgotten: They Might Be Giants – Mink Car
Having extracted themselves from the Elektra record label, They Might Be Giants spent the late 90s keeping relatively low key, with the live Severe Tyre Damage and the early internet oddity Long Tall Weekend being the only albums added to their already interesting CV. By 2001 though they had a backlog of material to clear, …
Not Forgotten: Bruce Springsteen – Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
I took the scenic route to being a Bruce Springsteen fan. Perhaps bizarrely I started with his critically acclaimed Tunnel of Love, before back tracking to the stadium-conquering Born in the USA. Losing interest for a while, it wasn’t until one of my closest friends started dating a Springsteen obsessive that my interest was sparked …
Not Forgotten: William Shatner – Has Been
Can you imagine trying to pitch a William Shatner album to a record label in 2003? For decades he had been sniggered at for his various attempts at ‘singing’, with his much derided rendition of “Mr Tambourine Man” being a subject of much criticism down the years, though the reaction to that was nothing compared …
Not Forgotten: Leaf Hound – Growers of Mushroom
Ah, 1971, a time when rock music was rapidly evolving and youth culture as a whole was still suffering from the hangover caused by the end of the hippy dream. The giants of the new decade had begun to emerge in the late 60s, with The Beatles split having handily cleared the decks for a …