A buyers guide to the Super Furry Animals
In ten years time and the children of the Brit-pop generation start taking an interest in their parents music collections, who do you think the really cool bands will be? It won’t be the big hitters whose songs will still be played on the radio, but those nearly men, those who despite having the talent, …
A buyers guide to Grandaddy
Grandaddy were one of those bands who struggled to catch a break. They had all the talent in the world, great tunes, a fine songwriter in Jason Lytle and had a lot more to offer than your average five piece rock band peddling their wares at the turn of the millennium. Sound-wise they were not …
ALBUM REVIEW – TOY – JOIN THE DOTS
TOY have a lot of nerve. There’s not many bands that would gamble releasing their second album during the second week of December, a time of year the music industry primarily dedicates to releasing nigh profit margin compilations, or the dreaded Christmas Album. There’s also not many bands that would open that same album with …
NOT FORGOTTEN – WARREN ZEVON – WARREN ZEVON
There are some albums where you can actually hear the substances that went into their creation. This album is much like Hotel California and Rumours and pretty much every LA rock album recorded in the late 70s, in that they all sound big, flashy and possibly suffered a little from having too much money thrown …
NOT FORGOTTEN – NEIL YOUNG – TIME FADES AWAY
As this alphabetic odyssey of overlooked albums draws to an end I look back on the last few weeks and have to admit I’ve surprised myself about some of the albums that I’ve selected to celebrate (Billy Joel’s Cold Spring Harbor?) and even discovered a gem that I myself had previously overlooked (the great Songs …
NOT FORGOTTEN – XTC – APPLE VENUS VOL. 1
The British terraced house is a humble dwelling. I’m not talking the huge Edwardian terraced villas that sell for obscene amounts of money in London, no I’m talking about the rows upon rows of two and three bedroom houses that make up the bulk of the majority towns and cities across Britain. Houses where your …
NOT FORGOTTEN – TOM WAITS – CLOSING TIME
Throughout his career Tom Waits has made his reputation for being a wilful and wayward force of creativity in music. His reputation is legendary, his output is revered by his peers and if anything, he’s become increasingly uncompromising as his career has progressed. As a result of this his best known albums like Heart Attack …
NOT FORGOTTEN – VIOLENT FEMMES – VIOLENT FEMMES
It’s been some time since I realised that I am getting out of touch with the guitar music that appeals to today’s youth. I can understand why the music in question appeals to those in their teens and early twenties, but it just doesn’t appeal to me, I’ve moved on, I’ve (for want of a …
NOT FORGOTTEN – U.N.P.O.C. – FIFTH COLUMN
I’ve been writing for Backseat Mafia for a while now, prior to that I honed my music reviewing on a website where members of the public were encouraged to review the music in their collection. It was as a tiny part of this small but enthusiastic online community that I first encountered Fifth Column, the …
NOT FORGOTTEN – TERRORVISION – SHAVING PEACHES
Terrorvision are one of those bands where it has been all to easy for the world at large to forget them. There’s no obvious reason for this to have happened. Terrorvison were a good-natured knock-about four piece band who rocked hard and gave their paying audience a good-value night out every time they played. True, …