pop features
Feature: Bigfatbig Give Us A Track By Track Of Their New EP Rockin’ And Rollin’ And Whatnot
North East’s Bigfatbig are making some big waves with their powerful punk pop tracks and energetic live shows. Their debut EP has finally been released to the world (read our review here). Backseat Mafia has the pleasure of having the band give us a run through of the tracks on their raw, honest and utterly …
Feature: Backseat Mafia Guide to Eurovision 2019
Ever since Bucks Fizz ripped off their skirts in the service of a grateful nation, I’ve been a massive Eurovision fan. This is honestly one of the best contest we’ve had in years. Here’s the Backseat Mafia guide to this years runners and riders in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final. This is all the …
A Buyers Guide to Crowded House (1986-1996)
Few acts have ever managed the career trajectory that Crowded House managed to pull off during their initial decade-long run from 1986 to 1996. Their debut album did solid business in the USA with their debut album on the back of a pair of big hit singles, while they struggled to make much of an …
Feature: Vinyl Reissue vs streaming
With the vinyl re-issue of Annie Lennox’s Diva, me and Spouse decided to put vinyl versus streaming to the test. I’m a simple soul who likes good music well played, but Spouse is an actual musician and former science teacher, with a fairly extensive vintage vinyl back catalogue. He has VIEWS on music quality. We …
A beginners’ guide to Elton John
The 50 year career trajectory of Elton John has remained fascinating if not consistent. Rising to prominence during the singer-songwriter boom of the early 70s, he and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin developed a sound which started in thrall to rootsy Americana (indeed, the USA embraced him before the UK did), before striking out in their …
A buyers’ guide to Steely Dan 1972-1980
I disagree with Steely Dan. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like them. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that during the period of 1972 – 1980, they released some of the finest albums of that era, and in Walter Becker and Donald Fagen had one of the finest songwriting duos to …
A buyers’ guide to Kirsty MacColl
Has any songwriter ever been more perfectly human than Kirsty MacColl? Intelligent, witty, wilful, vulnerable, contrary, mind-bogglingly talented, possessing a steely resolve and yet still coming across as approachable and utterly vulnerable, was there any wonder that I was besotted with her back when I was a teenager? Hell, I guess I still am. However, …
Soundtrack of our lives : Benjamin Schoos
Singer-songwriter and producer Benjamin Schoos is a Belgian phenomenon. Creator of Freaksville Records (with its ever-expanding roster of cult artists) and online radio station Radio Rectangle, he’s a prolific musical catalyst. Unlike the majority of his contemporaries, who sing and record in English to court a more international audience, he chooses to perform in his …
Feature: double albums that are actually worth the time.
For some artists the single disc statement is not enough. It should be though, as the multiple disc release is a difficult beast to master and many of the most famous double albums are at least half a side too long (The Beatles, Blonde on Blonde, Songs in the Key of Life, Physical Graffiti, etc). …
Feature: David Bowie (1947 – 2016), In Loving Memory
At the time of writing it has been a week since the death of David Bowie was announced. During that time there have been countless tributes, often from the most unlikely of places, which mark him out as one of the most significant figures of our time. It is impossible to imagine what Western culture …