Classic rock
Box Set Review: Mott the Hoople – Mental Train (The Island Years 1969-71)
Before “All The Young Dudes”, before Top of the Pops appearances, before David Bowie, Mott The Hoople were a brilliant live act that arguably struggled to transfer the tremendous energy that they generated on stage to the studio. It’s not that they didn’t try, indeed, they recorded four solid albums that were met with mass …
Classic Album: The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
For better or worse, my opinion of the work of Jimi Hendrix has always been smothered somewhat by the blanket opinion that he was the greatest guitar player in the history of the fretboard. This is an opinion held by the cool police, nostalgia freaks, my dad, and the music press. It is expected that …
Not Forgotten: Bruce Springsteen – The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
Even after four and a half decades, there’s still something oddly lovable about The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle. I guess it’s the fact that it really tries to be something we all want it to be. Ultimately though, like anything that tries too hard, it fails to reach the goals it …
News: Mott the Hoople to release Mental Train (The Island Years 1969-71) six CD box set
The Mental Train’s a rollin’… It’s probably fair to say that Mott the Hoople had a career of two halves. While it took the Bowie-penned to catapult them to commercial success, it is notable that despite the meagre sales of their previous four albums Mott the Hoople had recorded for Island Records, they had earned …
Not Forgotten: Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night
The opening title track starts with the saddest piano notes you’ve ever heard, droplets of sorrow falling onto a lake of melancholy, and you quickly start to realise that this isn’t the same Neil Young that sent endless numbers of music fans to sleep with the bland Harvest, this is a Neil Young dealing with …
Not Forgotten: Warren Zevon – The Wind
The Wind is a difficult album to review, as the fact that Warren Zevon passed away barely a couple of weeks after it’s release casts a long shadow over it. It is an album which will forever be linked to his death and as such, it’s difficult to assess it on its own merits. Indeed, …
A Buyers Guide to 80s Live Albums
Although the heyday of the live rock album was the late 60s to the late 70s, there have been many live albums released since then that have captured the public’s imagination, topped the chats, or stood out as absolutely crucial releases within an act’s discography. Here then is the second instalment of what we hope …
A Buyers Guide to Electric Light Orchestra
The Move were one of those psyche-pop acts of the late 60s that were able to release great singles, but albums success always seemed to elude them. Originally formed in the middle of the decade from what were perceived to be the top guys from the best three or four local Birmingham beat groups, The …
Not Forgotten: Bruce Springsteen – Darkness on the Edge of Town
There’s a time in all of our lives when we put aside our romantic dreams of an ideal life aside, and simply accept life for being the often thankless struggle that it is. Perhaps it’s a lifetime of listening to the wrong people that has led you to where you are. Perhaps circumstance has ensured …
Classic Album: Small Faces – Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake
By and large, there are some albums that transcend the era of popular music they were recorded in, and then there are some that remain forever tied to the culture and attitudes of the era. There is a very small group of albums that manage to do be both, or neither. Released in 1968, Small …