britpop
Not Forgotten: Blur – 13
At the peak of their success I was distinctly unimpressed with Blur and their run of chirpy-chappy chart toppers. Parklife and the Great Escape both sold by the lorry full, yet I struggled understand their appeal to my generation, or quite their press-derived rivalry with Oasis was considered newsworthy. Two decades later and I can …
Album Review: James – “Girl At the End of the World”
James are heading for their 35th year together as a band so it’s something of a surprise to learn that their latest album, their 12th studio album, came very close to being their very first to reach #1. Of course, their bumper singles-fest “The Best of” reached #1 in 1998, going on to be certified …
Album Review: Suede — Night Thoughts
Suede* is the band that many forget actually kickstarted (or possibly hotwired) Britpop. Night Thoughts is Suede’s seventh album and only the second since their welcomed reunion in 2010, a bit close on the heels of 2013’s Bloodsports. For fans who started to lose interest after Coming Up, this may well be the album to …
Track: The Assist – Love
Walsall quartet The Assist make the kind of Britpop infused rollocking indie pop that you can never get quite enough of, and so it proves once again with their new single, Love. Although it nods its head at Shaun Ryder, its nearer to the less well known (but equally as good, I would argue) Flowered …
Track: Red House Glory – Pray Now
London quartet, Red House Glory, have been releasing EP after EP for the best part of four years. Their true Brit-rock, matched with their glorious melodies and pop-infused choruses makes them an outrageously catchy band and one the whole family can enjoy. Ahead of their next EP, All Out of Love, the band treat us …
Not Forgotten – Suede – Coming Up
There are times when revisionism just gets it a bit wrong. In the early 90s, Suede were at the very vanguard of British guitar music. With the backing of the weekly music press, they gained a considerable amount of momentum, with frontman Brett Anderson even finding his way onto he front page of one of …
A Buyers Guide to Supergrass
Fizzy, fun and yet still possessing surprisingly more depth than their singles would suggest, Supergrass was that rare thing in Britpop, a band that was worth the hype at the time, whose material still stands up to scrutiny today. I Should CoCo finds the band as callow youths, still juggling style and substance and yet …
Not Forgotten: Bernard Butler – People Move On
When former Suede guitar botherer Bernard Butler announced he was going solo after a short but troubled collaboration with Soul singer David McAlmont, I barely blinked. I was actually pretty ignorant of his career up to then actually. I had heard that he had quit Suede just before the epic and gloriously overblown Dog Man …