indie rewind
Classic Compilation: The Divine Comedy – A Secret History: The Best of The Divine Comedy
There have been few compilations as well timed as A Secret History: The Best of The Divine Comedy. Released just as Neil Hannon was enjoying the apex of his commercial success, it saw the band briefly established as one of the most popular groups in the UK, ensuring mega-sales for a compilation that was effectively …
Classic Compilation: Elvis Costello – The Best of Elvis Costello: The First 10 Years
Of course there are far more Elvis Costello compilations on the shelves than are strictly necessary, and given that throughout his lengthy and relatively productive career he has frequently thrown his fans a curve-ball, there’s never going to be a compilation that captures the full-scope of his career to date, at least not to everyone’s …
Not Forgotten: Ween – The Mollusk
How much you enjoy Ween can often depend on how much you appreciate their regular explorations of bad taste. If you’re easily offended, then chances are, Ween generally aren’t for you. That said, an album like The Mollusk does reveal that there’s more to Ween than just being They Might Be Giants with frequent lapses …
Not Forgotten: The Bees – Octopus
There’s something heartening when you discover a band that’s obviously not part of a media-hyped ‘scene’. Released during a period where tie-rock, Brit-pop revivalists and Coldplay-clones still held sway here in the UK, at least as far as rock music goes, Octopus confirmed that The Bees particular brand of shaggy retro-revivalism just didn’t seem to …
Not Forgotten: The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Welcome to the Infant Freebase
Retro rock is a risky business, if you pay homage to your influences too closely you risk ending up in a creative cul-de-sac, when your fans don’t need to know what your new album is like, only if it is any good. In a worse case scenario you could do all you can to attempt …
Not Forgotten: Supergrass – In It for the Money
I never really held out that much hope for Supergrass. To the untrained eye they appeared to spring from nowhere to unleash the chirpy (but not to the point of being irritating) “Alright”, a song that marked them out as a cut above the plethora of guitar bands that were being thrown against the wall …
Not Forgotten: Silver Jews – Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Silver Jews are a band that I knew by name long before I heard a note of their music. Apparently they were originally associated with Pavement, and that was enough for me to not need to know anymore, at least until recently. Then I stumbled across a copy of Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea in a …
Not Forgotten: Skunk Anansie – Stoosh
Skunk Anansie were one of those acts in the 90s that you couldn’t help but be aware of, particularly around the time of their second album, Stoosh. A punkish hard rocking quartet, they stood significantly apart from the various cookie-cutter Britpop acts of the era, with an utterly different attitude and a significantly different sound. …
Not Forgotten: Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
It’s fair to say that immediately prior to the release of Neon Bible, the music scene was working itself up into a frenzy over Arcade Fire, with their full length Funeral being (rightly) hailed as a modern masterpiece, to the point where a band that initially released their debut album with the minimum of fan-fair …
Not Forgotten: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – The Boatman’s Call
Released in early March 1997, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds’ The Boatman’s Call was received with a modest amount of fanfare, and was pretty much instantly embraced as one of their best albums by longstanding fans, as it quickly proved itself to be their gentlest and most romantic album since The Good Son seven …