Classic Compilation: The Eels – Meet The Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1 (1996–2006)
To my ongoing shame, prior to hearing Meet the Eels, I had dismissed Eels as little more than a post-grunge novelty act after seeing them miming along with toy instruments to “Susan’s House” on Top of the Pops in the mid 90s. A few years later I picked up a copy of Beautiful Freak as …
EP Review: Spirit of Play – Apocalypse EP
Smart, literate and good natured, Spirit of Play’s new EP is shot-through with the book-smarts and approachability you might expect from a four piece band consisting of employees of the Times Literary Supplement. While you’d be right in not expecting visceral rock and roll thrills from such a self-confessed geeky group, the uncharacteristically aggressive Apocalypse …
Not Forgotten: Half Man Half Biscuit – Voyage to the Bottom of the Road
There are times when the lowly court jester is the wisest man in the kingdom. Released just weeks before the lingering-fart that was Be Here Now confirmed that the Britpop bubble had burst, at a time when every record label, regardless of how much major label backing they received, tried to convince you that any …
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: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Messin’
Although never known as being one of the eras key acts, Manfred Mann enjoyed a few sizeable radio hits during the beat boom of the 60s. After the hits dried up, the eponymous keyboard player had flirted with jazz-rock with the ambitious, but dull, Manfred Mann Chapter Three, before deciding to recruit another band and …
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 …
News: Richard Thompson announces new albums and tour news
A legendary singer songwriter, and one of the most celebrated guitar players to strap on a six-string, Richard Thompson will release a follow up to his well received 2014 release, Acoustic Classics, on his own Beeswing record label, on August 11. In support of Acoustic Classics Vol. II, Thompson will play Cropredy Festival in August, …
Not Forgotten: Marty Robbins – More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
Such is the high regard that 1959’s Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs is held, that the fact that the late great Marty Robbins released another 43 albums in his lifetime (and a further two posthumously) is often overlooked.Perhaps inevitably, the snappily titled More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, is not dissimilar to Robbin’s best known …
Live Review: Ian Hunter and The Rant Band – The Plug, Sheffield, 29.10.2017
One of the great joys of music is being unable to introduce your friends to acts they didn’t know they liked. While I have been an Ian Hunter fan for a couple of decades now, ever since I heard “All the Young Dudes” on the radio in college, and have explored his back catalogue and …