Not Forgotten
Not Forgotten: Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
Sinister, mad and disturbing old Tom. By the mid 80s he was ploughing a furrow that nobody could follow, not because they didn’t want to, but because they weren’t sure how stable the earth was that Tom was ploughing. But on he ploughed, churning out sea shantys, burnt out blues and insane polkas. He just …
Feature: Reasons you should respect Mott the Hoople more than you probably do
Remembered primarily as early 70s rockers that struggled for commercial success until they were saved by David Bowie, who donated to them their most iconic song and convinced them that they could be pop stars if they wanted it enough, the story of Mott the Hoople is considerably more subtle and complex than most realise. …
Not Forgotten: Sparklehorse – It’s a Wonderful Life
It must have been mid-2003 that Nibbsy first recommended Sparklehorse to me, but it was in the middle of a period of musical exploration for me, so they just got added to the list of acts that I had to take time out and listen to in the future. As time went on more and …
Not Forgotten: Neil Young – On the Beach
Some albums become legendary because of the huge amounts they sold (The Joshua Tree, The Dark Side of the Moon), some because they made a distinct cultural impact, (Revolver, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars) and some just because they contained utterly brilliant music (Blood on the Tracks, Catch …
Not Forgotten: Villagers – Becoming a Jackal
They’ve taken their time about it over the last two decades, yet slowly but surely Domino Records has established itself as a sign of quality, much like Elektra had become in the late 60s. With acts like Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys and u.n.p.o.c. on the roster, it’s evident the label has an ear for talent …
Not Forgotten: Billy Bragg – Don’t Try This at Home
Billy Bragg’s first full album since Workers Playtime, an album which saw him change his style to something a little more mainstream than clattering his battered Telecaster and delivering his love them / hate them vocals (personally I’ve always been charmed by his rampantly untutored vocal stylings) with assistance from a few select collaborators (step …
Not Forgotten – Steely Dan – Katy Lied
The general consensus seems to be that Katy Lied is Becker and Fagen’s least favourite Steely Dan album, because it didn’t match their levels of studio perfectionism that they had achieved on their other albums. As it turns out that is exactly the reason that it is my favourite Steely Dan album. I’m a rock …
Not Forgotten: Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born Ten Years Later
I don’t think there’s a more divisive Wilco record than A Ghost Is Born(maybe Wilco(The Album)). It was a record filled with claustrophobic silence, whispered musical intentions, and the sound of numbed pain. It was the record where people asked “What’s going on with Jeff Tweedy’s voice?” Well I asked it, anyways. It felt both pared down …
Not Forgotten – Faces – A Nod is as Good as a Wink… To a Blind Horse
There are some bands whose true worth only became obvious following the passage of time, whose stature continues to build year upon year, long after the band members themselves have gone their separate ways. Faces are not one of those bands. In the early 90s gold rush to re-evaluate and re-assess the music of the …
Not Forgotten – My Morning Jacket – Z
The first time I heard about My Morning Jacket was when Mojo Magazine got themselves into a fizzle of excitement about them a few years back. Apparently they’d already released a couple of albums which had crept in under the radar, but Mojo had them tipped as the next big thing on no better authority …