pop
Classic Compilation: Neil Innes – Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues
When is a compilation not a compilation? When it is an album padded out by a few contemporaneous bonus tracks. Except it isn’t, because those additional b-sides, singles and rarities are dotted around before, after, and even during the original album’s run time. There’s also the fact that Re-Cycled Vinyl Blues is almost everything that …
Album Review: Dan Black – Do Not Revenge
We Dan Black’s fans are a patient bunch. Just a mere eight years after his debut solo album ‘UN’ and the king of wonky pop drops the follow up ‘Do Not Revenge’ this week. So full disclosure, ‘UN’ is one of my all time favourite albums. So many I’m not really the best person to …
Classic Compilation: The Beatles – Love
How many words have been written about The Beatles in the last five and a half decades? Too damn many that’s for certain, but it’s also probably one of the greatest indicators of how they still stand like an immovable colossus over popular culture. Almost fifty years after they imploded in a cloud of legal …
Classic Compilation: ABBA – ABBA Gold : Greatest Hits
There’s seemingly always been a certain amount of sniffiness around compilations, as if they are somehow unrepresentative of the musical act they allegedly represent. This is particularly the case across the Atlantic, where they are often dismissed as, at best, being poor value for money, or at worst, being a cynical attempt to rip off …
London’s The Caress release their third single: ‘A Picture By The Thames In Winter’
The Caress, hailing from South East London and comprising of brothers Tom, Ben and Sam Easton, have released their third self-released single entitled ‘A Picture By The Thames In Winter’. Having previously been championed by Steve Lamacq and Gideon Coe, these lads are to be kept an eye on, as we will surely see more …
Not Forgotten: Neil Innes – Taking Off
When the rare conversations regarding the merits of the Bonzo Dog Band are had, a fair portion of that time is spent discussing the work of Viv Stanshall, he of the instantly recognisable voice, weird lyrics, variable solo career and someone generally held to be a cult hero. While Stanshall and his creative career certainly …
Classic Album: Considering the status of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 50 years later.
50 years ago popular music reached its absolute apex when Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the most perfect musical statement in the history of the eardrum was released. It instantly made every album released prior to May 1967 sound utterly juvenile, and every album released after it has been a shockingly poor attempt to …
Track: Holy Boy – Lay Your Hands
Norwegian-born, LA based singer songwriter Helene Alexandra Jaeger garnered some serious interest in her previous guise as Her Royal Harness, and is about to release a new EP under her new guise as Holy Boy. Produced by Ben Hillier (The Horrors, Depeche Mode, Blur) at The Pool Studios in London 2016, the first single taken …
EP Review: HEL! – Romantically Stunted
HEL! is the stage name of a dungaree-clad 20-year-old singer-songwriter from Liverpool, otherwise known as Helena MacCormack. Her debut EP, Romantically Stunted, released on 23rd April 2017, shares optimistic melodies with revealing and amusing lyrics to construct songs which are both catchy and thought-provoking. The EP opens with ‘Confession’, a stripped back and simple song …
Album Review: Alex G – My Life On The Internet
Whilst an album of covers may not be something you’d expect a review on, the first thing to mention is that the best definition of a great cover song is doing something different, to put your own spin on it and make it your own. Alex G is an artist that has always strived for putting her own …