Not Forgotten: Elton John – Caribou
Bless him, for all his tantrums (and tiara’s), Elton John has enjoyed a career reassessment over the last two decades to the point where he’s now arguably as popular as he’s ever been since the mid 70s. Perhaps more crucially, Elton understands and agrees that his 1970-1975 work is his most popular material, and does …
Classic Album: Queen – Live Killers
Live Killers found Queen at a fascinating crossroads. Over the course of seven studio albums they had established themselves as an arena filling colossus with a sound which had started out as stodgy prog rock, before applying the glitter, shedding their less dynamic sensibilities, and morphing into one of the finest classic rock acts ever. …
A Beginners Guide to Sparks
Sparks aren’t just any old pop band. Formed by brothers Ron and Russell Mael, the former child models were just too weird for the macho chest-beating alpha male loving American rock scene of the 70s, Sparks have always enjoyed far greater success in Europe. Following some tentative steps as Halfnelson, the brothers would form Sparks …
Classic Compilation: Various Artists – I’m Your Fan
The compilation album consisting of multiple acts recording a variety of songs penned by a single artist by way of tribute resulted in a series of releases which can be generously considered ‘patchy’. For every Step Right Up, or A Testimonial Dinner, two examples which actually worked, there were a dozen more ham-fisted attempts at …
Incoming: Official Illustrated History of Jethro Tull
Fans of the band cannot help but have noticed the ongoing Jethro Tull reissue campaign, where the band’s classic albums are being released as remasters overseen by Steven Wilson, with a whole bundle of extras in deluxe boxed set form. If you’re the type of fan who has to own each of these boxed sets, …
Classic Album: Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A.
For some reason I can’t help liking Bruce Springsteen. For all his bluster, forced blue-collar worthiness and the odd questionable career move, his heart has always seemed to be in the right place. Released a dozen years after his debut, Born In The U.S.A. is the album that made Springsteen an international household name and …
Not Forgotten: Cud – When in Rome, Kill Me
It is one of the less talked about pages of late 80s indie lore that the budget was so tight when Cud recorded their debut album, that when they over spent the band elected not to master it and release it in its natural state. This meant that the original release of When in Rome, …
Album Review: Scott Lavene – Broke
Back in 2016 I reviewed an album by an act called Big Top Heartbreak. Deadbeat Ballads was one of those albums where the personality of its creator truly shone through. It was a shame then that it languished in relative obscurity, with even being absent from some of the bigger music cataloguing websites. Its cult …
Not Forgotten: Travis – The Man Who
Good old Travis. Good old sensible Travis. For a while they had a reputation for doing exactly what you expected of them. So honest, so reliable, so steady, always taking the off-target accusations of being slightly dull in good humour. In the nicest possible sense, for a few years Travis were the Ned Flanders of …
Not Forgotten: David Byrne – David Byrne
Like most people, I had been aware of David Byrne via his work with the Talking Heads, however I’d also heard that his solo albums were generally a bit more arty and just a little bit pretentious, but a friend of mine advised that this was a good album to take a risk with and …