album review
NOT FORGOTTEN – QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – SONGS FOR THE DEAF
It was at one of those get togethers you attend with your other half, so there’s always a few folks you’ve not met before. My girlfriend was saying hello to her sisters and various old acquaintances she’d not seen for years and I must have stood out like a sore thumb, because this giant of …
NOT FORGOTTEN – CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN – CHANGELING
Camille O’Sullivan was not an artist I was familiar with prior to hearing Changeling, though a little Googling quickly ensured I had the basics, which was enough to give the impression that she’s a rather fascinating character. Born in London, raised in Ireland, she’s a vocalist, cabaret artist and actress. She studied fine art but …
NOT FORGOTTEN – RANDY NEWMAN – BAD LOVE
Way back in my late teens and into my early twenties, I fancied myself as a poet. I thought I was pretty damn good at it too. So did others actually, to the point where some of my fellow students with musical ambitions would ask me to help out on some of their more lyrically …
NOT FORGOTTEN – JASON LYTLE – YOURS TRULY, THE COMMUTER
“The last thing I heard I was left for dead” – Now that’s an arresting way to open your solo debut, especially if you were the main creative force of one of the best, yet almost universally overlooked bands of your generation. Sometimes you just don’t realise what you had until it’s gone. Grandaddy were …
NOT FORGOTTEN – GROUNDHOGS – SPLIT
Oddly enough, the first time I heard of The Groundhogs was a minor ‘Forgotten Heroes’ piece on them in Melody Maker back in the late 90s as apparently a number of Brit Pop acts had been influenced by them. With both The Melody Maker and Brit Pop and both consigned to history since I first …
NOT FORGOTTEN – THE FLAMING LIPS – TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE SATELLITE HEART
Like many of us here in the UK I only discovered the multifaceted joys of The Flaming Lips after they had released the glorious, world-beating, The Soft Bulletin. Being the curious sort I did the appropriate research into their history and felt emboldened to explore their back-catalogue (well the other albums they had released on …
NOT FORGOTTEN – EELS – HOMBRE LOBO: 12 SONGS OF DESIRE
Lust, desire and romance have been the most popular subject matter for songs for millennia now – it’s pretty much what keeps the whole music industry going regardless of genre, fashion or the political background of the era. Some of the greatest wordsmiths throughout history have spent their whole lives trying to write the perfect …
NOT FORGOTTEN – DREAD ZEPPELIN – UN-LED-ED
On paper it sounds like a terrible idea, a bunch of stoners playing reggae versions of Led Zeppelin tunes, fronted by an Elvis Presley impersonator. Leaping from your speakers it’s a different matter. The thing is, Dread Zeppelin could really play. They weren’t just playing for laughs either, they were accomplished musicians with a deep …
NOT FORGOTTEN – CUD – ASQUARIUS
Love at first sound, that’s what it was. The riff that literally tumbled out of the speakers and then that voice. I knew I’d accidentally discovered one of music’s great lost groups and they spoke to me in a way that very few bands did. This wasn’t a passing phase or a temporary thing either, …
Not Forgotten – The Bonzo Dog Band – The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse
One of my favourite anecdotes from the history of rock music recalls the Bonzo Dog Band touring the USA in the late 60s and their minibus being stopped by a local Sheriff. The law officer asked if they were carrying any firearms or drugs. When they denied possession of either (preferring alcohol to drugs at …