rock/metal rewind
Not Forgotten: Rainbow – Rising
The haziness of music history shows that Rainbow were one of the first acts to actually identify themselves as Heavy Metal. While it may have been Jimi Hendrix’ guitar playing that had been described as ‘heavy metal falling for the sky’, and the trio of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath started out as …
Not Forgotten: 10CC – Deceptive Bends
Having cornered the intelligent pop market with a brace of hit singles and a quartet of albums which made the most of each individual band member’s top-draw songwriting and cutting-edge production techniques, by 1976 10CC had very little to prove. The arty / techy duo Godley & Creme were getting increasingly enamoured with the types …
Not Forgotten: Supertramp – Even in the Quietest Moments
Even in the Quietest Moments is the second of two albums wedged between Supertramp’s best album, 1974’s Crime of the Century, and their most commercially successful, 1979’s Breakfast in America. Prior to starting work on Even in the Quietest Moments, Supertramp had made the prescient decision to move their base of operations to America, where …
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 …
Classic Album: Stevie Nicks – Bella Donna
You almost don’t need to hear Bella Donna to know what it sounds like. Name recognition alone will inform you that this is a solo album by the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman and visual figurehead. There she is on the cover, resplendent in a floaty dress, lofty heels, big hair and brandishing a cockatoo. Oh, and …
Not Forgotten: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Ragged Glory
It had been a long time coming. Neil Young had last reached one of his irregular artistic peaks in 1979 with Rust Never Sleeps, but throughout the next decade he seemed to go into free-fall, until he recorded the Eldorado EP which stopped the rot and followed it up with the fair to middling Freedom. …
Classic Album: Jethro Tull – Songs From the Wood
The rise of punk triggered a wide variety of reactions among more established acts. Led Zeppelin nodded in approval, and continued to be Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd channelled their own disenfranchised feelings into the bleak Animals. A few other acts underwent underwent various identity crises, with some attempting to go ‘pop’ with mixed success (Emerson, …
Classic Album: Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
One of the weirdest gigs I ever attended was seeing Fleetwood Mac play Sheffield Arena back in 2009. While it was an entertaining enough show, there was a general undercurrent that resulted in an odd vibe. Christine McVie had departed the band for a solo career some years prior, Stevie Nicks, all slow hand-movements and …
Classic Album: Elton John – Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
Managing to traverse the chasm between critics favourite and global commercial acceptance at the same time as David Bowie, the former Reg Dwight seemingly had the best of both worlds by the mid 70s. Like Bowie, he had segued almost effortlessly from lauded singer-songwriter to glam rock icon (and, lest we forget, had even cracked …
Not Forgotten: Pink Floyd – Animals
In early 1977 the winds of change were blowing. Reflecting the mood of unrest prevalent in the UK at the time, the established old guard of music acts had evolved into largely complacent animals, while the combination of general discontent and the cyclical nature of change meant that they were about to be swept away …