Jon Bryan, Author at Backseat Mafia

Classic Compilation: The Lightning Seeds – Like You Do… The Best of The Lightning Seeds

For some the phrase pop-music is an instant turn off, but in truth they are missing the point a little. The whole point of music is for an audience to…

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Not Forgotten: Mott the Hoople – Mott the Hoople

As debut albums go, Mott the Hoople’s self titled effort is an enthusiastic display of aspiration, even if it does ultimately fall short of being an all out success. Kicking…

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Classic Compilation: B. B. King – His Definitive Greatest Hits

B. B. King was a legend and legend is not a word I use lightly. He was and remains an icon of popular music. A blues guitar player whose career…

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Not Forgotten: Elton John – 17.11.70

After years, if not decades, of wandering about the cultural wilderness, it has reached the point where even the most indifferent music fan has to admit that between 1970 and…

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Album Review: Sparks – Hippopotamus

When Sparks roared back to relevance with 2002‘s Lil’ Beethoven, it was treated as a glorious return to form. How long that form would last was another matter. Was it…

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Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – Crest of a Knave

Like many acts from the 60s and &0s, when the 80s rolled around Jethro Tull struggled with something of an identity crisis, desperately trying to blend the traditional core values…

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Classic Compilation: James – The Best of James

James are one of those bands that I return to every now and again. It’s not as if I am a massive fan, but they have slowly crept into my…

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Not Forgotten: Edwyn Collins – I’m Not Following You

Pity poor old Edwyn Collins. If the world were a just and fair place, we would be hailing Orange Juice as the crown princes of 80s indie, but instead it’s…

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Classic Album: R.E.M. – Document

Like many R.E.M. fans here in the UK, it wasn’t until the early 90s that I first became aware of them through hit singles like “Shiny Happy People”, “Losing My…

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Not Forgotten: Stereophonics – Word Gets Around

It is the late 90s, the Britpop bubble has just burst, New Labour has started to settle in to governing the UK and I find myself studying in Wigan, birth…

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