Not Forgotten
Not Forgotten: Mott the Hoople – The Hoople
Sometimes you really do need to be careful what you wish for. After years of hard-gigging, road-hardened Mott the Hoople had thrown in the towel in March 1972, only for the towel to be caught mid-flight by David Bowie, who as an encore got them out of their unfavourable record deal, donated to them a …
Feature: The UK Free Festival Scene, 1986 – 1992
These days there is a plethora of festivals, from huge expensive ones (Glastonbury) to smaller more affordable ones (Green Man, Wicker Man), but I don’t know of many (if any) free festivals. The term itself conjures up images of halcyon days back in the sixties, of hippies sat in circles, nudity and free love. But …
Not Forgotten: Mansun – Attack of the Grey Lantern
Released at a time when any UK four piece with guitars was being mercilessly marketed as Britpop and ‘indie’, Mansun’s Attack of the Grey Lantern is an album that succeeded, not because, but despite, the hyperbole around it. Schizophrenic image problems or not, Mansun had spent the months prior to the release of their debut …
Not Forgotten: The Band – Music From Big Pink
The Band are an acts whose heavyweight reputation promises far more than it actually delivers. For all the revisionist history since, in truth they only released two truly world class albums, Music From Big Pink and their eponymous second. That said, those two albums are probably responsible for influencing more Americana acts than anyone else …
Not Forgotten: Supertramp – Breakfast in America
Breakfast in America is an album that simply shouldn’t have happened. Slightly smug, self satisfied prog-flecked radio-friendly rock by earnest men with beards should have been felled with the double blow of disco and punk, yet there Supertramp were in 1979, knee deep in gold records, releasing a string of hit singles that had conquered …
Not Forgotten: The Replacements – Pleased to Meet Me
With the departure of Bob Stinson from the band The Replacements slimmed down to a trio for Pleased to Meet Me and continued their journey from barely coherent punks to professional rock and roll band. To their credit they didn’t hide from this fact either, even making direct reference to it in the title and …
Not Forgotten: Roger Chapman – Chappo
Former Family man Roger Chapman didn’t exactly pick a prime time to start his solo career. Following his Family days, he formed a new band, Streetwalkers, who enjoyed modest success, but they didn’t experience the same level of success as Family had. By 1979 the Punk flame, although guttering, was at least still lit and …
Not Forgotten – The Hold Steady – Almost Killed Me
It’s late summer 2007, it’s pouring with rain outside, and I’m spending the evening in the pub. I’d had dozens of nights like this in the previous ten years, a cheery couple of pints in our local had descended into my friend berating me for having a preference for rock music rather than jazz. His …
Not Forgotten: Aretha Franklin – Aretha Now
I have no wish to put the cat among the pigeons, but I have to confess that I marginally prefer Aretha Now above the more widely celebrated I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You. As great as Aretha Franklin’s debut for Atlantic is, Aretha Now boasts a measure more lightness of touch …
Not Forgotten – Fleetwood Mac – Tusk
Back in the day Tusk was one of the most anticipated albums ever released. Rumours had launched Fleetwood Mac to the eye-watering heights of rock music’s mega-league, despite the increasingly strained relationships between the five band members, and expectation for its follow up had reached fever pitch. Behind the scenes at Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham …