album review
Album Review: Taylor Locke – Time Stands Still
A few notes of electric piano and semi-distant slide guitar stamps Time Stands Still with the hallmarks of a West Coast album with a whole heap of promise. The opening track of Time Stands Still, “Burbank Woman”, was my first experience of the music of Taylor Locke and by the end of the song, I …
Not Forgotten: They Might Be Giants – Flood
As the 90s dawned, things were restless in the musical firmament. In the UK, we were coming to terms with the fact that we were still suffering from the hangover of terrible pop songs and even worse production methods that the 80s had blighted us with, and across the Atlantic folks were taking a long …
Album Review: CHAMPS – VAMALA
VAMALA is a word used by Isle of Wight fishermen for a certain type of dangerous storm that comes in suddenly off the sea. It is also the name of the new album from Isle of Wight siblings CHAMPS. released on 23rd February 2015 by Play It Again Sam. Thankfully for Michael and David Champion, their …
Not Forgotten: Guided by Voices – Motivational Jumpsuit
An overlooked rather than a forgotten classic, Motivational Jumpsuit was the first of two albums by Guided by Voices that were released in quick succession in the first half of 2014, before they once again called it a day last September. Less of a disorientating skip through Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout’s collective muse than …
Not Forgotten: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Hard Promises
For reasons that have never been explained to my satisfaction, the majority of rock fans this side of the pond never embraced Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the same way they did Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for this, both are acts steeped in …
Not Forgotten: Teenage Fanclub – Songs from Northern Britain
Having carved a career critically acclaimed career during the peak years of BritPop, by all rights Scottish power-pop guitar-slingers Teenage Fanclub should have been huge and the fact that they have achieved one solitary top 20 single in the UK (the utterly lovely “Ain’t That Enough”) and a trio of top 20 albums, including the …
Classic Compilation: A Testimonial Dinner – The Songs of XTC
By the mid 90s XTC must have felt distinctly unloved. Neither critical darlings, nor a massive commercial success, they’d had a career-stalling set-to with their record label and had no choice but to down-tools and go one strike. What Virgin records didn’t take into account was the fact that although XTC’s fanbase was small, it …
Not Forgotten: Crowded House – Woodface
The career arc of Crowded House through their initial phase was really rather odd. Over four albums they recorded some of the finest pop songs of the era, the first two being hits and successful in North America, while their profile in Europe was negligible, their last two were huge hits in Europe, but barely …
Not Forgotten: Fish – Internal Exile
Fish’s debut solo album, Vigil in the Wilderness of Mirrors, had sounded almost exactly like what you’d expect the debut solo album of the former Marillion frontman to sound like. His second album, 1991’s Internal Exile, was a tweak in sonic pallette thanks to the addition of producer Chris Kimsey (who has recently has loaned …
Not Forgotten: Elton John – Tumbleweed Connection
There are some who will always view Elton John with suspicion, or even disdain. With his stocky frame, his bad wigs and a reputation for over-reacting when things don’t go his way. Add to this his predilection for writing musicals, bank-rolling films about garden gnomes and his all too public love of all things monarchy …