Not Forgotten
Not Forgotten: Gong – Camembert Electrique
Released in 1971 on French label BYG Actuel, Gong’s second album resurfaced on Virgin Records in 1974 at the special price of 59p, by which time the teapot was in full flight with the Radio Gnome trilogy. Even back then, Daevid Allen’s mythology was close to fully formed. The photo on the back sleeve shows …
Not Forgotten: We revisit Augie March’s stunning debut ‘Sunset Studies’ from 2000 – still an essential antipodean sonic milestone – which gets a belated 21st birthday party.
By 2000, by the time Y2K anxiety had dissipated and, before the events of 9/11 cast a pall everywhere, post grunge was solidifying its place in the world and the vestiges of Britpop were bouncing along in ever decreasing circles. The Australian indie scene towards the end of the previous decade was mostly typified either …
Not Forgotten: Weezer – OK Human, on its first birthday
By the time of OK Human’s release, its title had already bounced around Weezer’s fandom for some time. In a pre-pandemic interview, frontman Rivers Cuomo confirmed the working title referred to a “piano-based, eccentric” album, “with strings”. Weezer fans are no strangers to the band serving up sudden surprises (both welcome and, erm, otherwise), but when the US four-piece deviate …
Not Forgotten: The Jasmine Minks – ‘The Jasmine Minks’: on older brothers, cassette pets and discovering the world of Creation
MY ROUTE into The Jasmine Minks and the whole world of early Creation Records – Slaughter Joe, Biff Bang Pow, Revolving Paint Dream and so many others? Mine was the time-honoured one: that is, the combined good agency of a friend’s older brother and the humble cassette. It’s a story repeated everywhere there are older …
News: ‘Amy Winehouse At The BBC’ compilation coming 7th May
Amy Winehouse At The BBC, a retrospective collection which chronicles many of the singer’s outstanding performances during her career, will be released on 7 May 2021 through UMC/Island. For the first time ever, this expanded release offers audio-only versions of the songs featured on earlier compilations A Tribute To Amy Winehouse by Jools Holland and …
Not Forgotten: Warren Zevon
FOR FAR too many music fans here in the UK, the name Warren Zevon merely equates to the American singer-songwriter’s one and only hit in the late 70s, “Werewolves Of London”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as it’s a great song and Zevon deserved his pop-star moment. Things is there was more to …
NOT FORGOTTEN: Snub TV: when British telly had a decent indie strand
JANUARY 9, 1989. Perhaps not the most auspicious date in world history, though there would be more epochal happenings later in the year, of course. The day dawned with the sad news of the plane crash at Kegworth, Leicestershire, the day before, when British Midland Flight 92 attempted an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport; …
NOT FORGOTTEN: Mike Flowers and the Easy revival
I CAN’T be the only one who noted that December 18th was the 25th anniversary of the release of that swingin’, knowin’, cheesy-easy version of “Wonderwall” by Mike Flowers Pops and uttered a ripe Anglo-Saxon expletive. F**k. How exactly did that happen now? A quarter-century? As Haruki Murakami said: “The past increases, the future recedes”. …
NOT FORGOTTEN: The Irresistible Force – ‘It’s Tomorrow Already’: the loud, great finale of British rave-ambient
“IT’S TIME to lie down and be counted”: so goes Mixmaster Morris’s brilliant call to very relaxed arms for the 90s’ British ambient scene. It was a manifesto banner that he jointly flew with The Orb’s Alex Paterson in that era, 1991-95, when the appetite for strange interweavings of found sound, Krautrock washes, environment recordings, …
Not Forgotten: Rainbow – Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow
This is the first album I’ve heard with any involvement from Ritchie Blackmore where it sounds like he’s genuinely having fun.