Classic Compilation: The Ramones – Greatest Hits
The Ramones are one of those bands it should be impossible to compile, because listening to them for anything more than half an hour outside of a live environment is frankly absurd. The key to the band’s greatness was how direct and concise their songs were, so to string dozens of them end to end …
Classic Compilation: Queen – Greatest Hits I & II
When it comes to compilations, there is one mega-selling release that overshadows even ABBA Gold and The Beatles Red and Blue Albums for the sheer amount of units shifted. Queen’s Greatest Hits is as much a definitive statement as any of their studio albums, and is the single biggest selling album of all time here …
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 …
Album Review: Pale Bird – Ten Things Which Aren’t Love
Pale Bird, aka Martin Austwick, or the artist formerly known as the Sound of the Ladies possesses an instantly identifiable folkish indie sound. Part of this is down to Austwick’s oddly soothing voice, his guitar work, or the feeling of space his production techniques provide between each instrument. It acts as an audible thread connecting …
Classic Compilation: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Anthology: Through the Years
Tom Petty – a Dylan disciple, a Byrds with harder-wearing tunes, a Bruce Springsteen for the rest of us. Few artists have defined approachable Middle-American rock and roll radio quite like Petty and his loyal band, and no one has made such a consistently good job of it for as long as he did. Anthology: …
Classic Album: Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols
While no one would ever dare question Sex Pistols’ cultural impact, such was Malcolm Mclaren’s obsession with publicity stunts, that by the time Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols was finally released in late October ’77, they had very nearly missed the bus. Both The Damned and The Clash had beaten them to …
Live Review: Richard Thompson / Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker Sheffield City Hall, 25.10.2017
Opening for an act like Richard Thompson, a man who has been at the forefront of the folk rock movement for five decades now, could easily overwhelm the unprepared. Luckily, with five albums already under their belt, and a wealth of good (and bad!) touring experience, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker know what they are …
Classic Compilation: Orange Juice – The Glasgow School
So, who are the most influential British Indie band of all time? Okay, so I’m going to assume that almost all of you said The Smiths. It is after, all the, predictable and obvious choice. However such cultural myopia is also doing great disservice to Orange Juice, the Edwyn Collins fronted band of indie pioneers …
Classic Album: Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell
40 years after its release Bat Out Of Hell remains big, preposterous and totally mad. This is the album that took it upon itself to fuse hard rock, doo wop, insanely overwrought ballads, prog-rock and Wagner to create something that to this day no one has been able to emulate, least of all the two …
Album Review: Steve Miller Band – Ultimate Hits
Released as both single and double disc compilations, Ultimate Hits is an odd one. The single disc does everything a compilation should do, giving the listener the feel for the Steve Miller Band’s long career, whereas the double disc version I am reviewing is a game attempt to fill a particular niche. The single disc …