Album Review: U2 – Songs of Innocence
It’s not even 72 hours since its (surprise) release, but already U2’s latest album has become one of the most widely distributed, most talked about and oddly controversial albums in living memory. Which is odd, because it’s just a U2 album. Okay, so beyond the music itself, there’s a few talking points here – It …
Not Forgotten: Humble Pie – Smokin’
Humble Pie are a band I had certainly heard of, but beyond knowing that they were the band that post-Small Faces Steve Marriott formed with pre-Frampton Comes Alive! Peter Frampton and that they were a harder-rocking proposition than both, I knew very little, beyond the fact that Smokin’ was reputedly their best studio album. Within …
A Buyers Guide to Supertramp 1974-1980
Even with the relatively charitable effects of nostalgia, there aren’t many bands less cool than Supertramp. They were briefly kings of FM rock, at a time that Album Orientated Rock shifted huge amounts in America and it is for Breakfast in America and the singles from that album that they are best remembered. Personally I’ve …
Not Forgotten: Cheap Trick – At Budokan
You know something, it’s taken me years to come to terms with it and stop being bitter about the fact that I wasn’t blessed in the looks department, but I’m actually quite content that I’m not one of the beautiful people. You see, the beautiful people get attention without ever having to try, whereas those …
Meet: Interview with Ian Hunter, new live album and tour news.
From his days back in the 60s when he was in bands such as The Apex Group and The Scenery, as well as backing Freddie ‘Fingers’ Lee, to joining, and ultimately fronting, Mott the Hoople in the late 60s and into the early 70s, singer and songwriter Ian Hunter has been one of those musicians …
Not Forgotten: Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
Sinister, mad and disturbing old Tom. By the mid 80s he was ploughing a furrow that nobody could follow, not because they didn’t want to, but because they weren’t sure how stable the earth was that Tom was ploughing. But on he ploughed, churning out sea shantys, burnt out blues and insane polkas. He just …
Soundtrack of our Lives: Ross Cameron of Bang Bang Romeo
Fresh from becoming one of the most talked about bands that played the Tramlines Festival, Bang Bang Romeo are poised to release their latest single, “Revolver”, which finds their sound evolve on from their rapturously received We Were Born EP. In between preparations for the single release, video shoots and radio sessions, guitar player Ross …
Feature: Reasons you should respect Mott the Hoople more than you probably do
Remembered primarily as early 70s rockers that struggled for commercial success until they were saved by David Bowie, who donated to them their most iconic song and convinced them that they could be pop stars if they wanted it enough, the story of Mott the Hoople is considerably more subtle and complex than most realise. …
Not Forgotten: Sparklehorse – It’s a Wonderful Life
It must have been mid-2003 that Nibbsy first recommended Sparklehorse to me, but it was in the middle of a period of musical exploration for me, so they just got added to the list of acts that I had to take time out and listen to in the future. As time went on more and …
Not Forgotten: Neil Young – On the Beach
Some albums become legendary because of the huge amounts they sold (The Joshua Tree, The Dark Side of the Moon), some because they made a distinct cultural impact, (Revolver, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars) and some just because they contained utterly brilliant music (Blood on the Tracks, Catch …