rock/metal rewind
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: Genesis – Selling England By the Pound
Genesis may have not been the first, best or even the most original, but to many fans they are the archetypal progressive rock act. From distinctly unpromising beginnings, they had nevertheless evolved from cult favourites in Europe, to the point where in late 1973, they were on the cusp of sizeable commercial success. Much of …
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, …
Not Forgotten: Paul Rodgers – Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters
The thing that I have always found frustrating about Paul Rodgers is that post-Free, the quality of the material he has recorded has not always matched his formidable reputation as one of the UK’s finest blues-rock vocalists. After Free Rodgers joined forces with Mick Ralphs of Mott the Hoople fame, King Crimson refugee Boz Burrell …
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 …
Not Forgotten: U2 – Zooropa
Zooropa is one of the few U2 studio albums that I can listen to all the way through without it making me want to throw my stereo out of the window. Sure, I like a few of their singles, but for me U2 wear thin very quickly at album length. Thankfully Zooropa is the least …
Not Forgotten: Jethro Tull – A Passion Play
Jethro Tull had made their point with Thick as a Brick. Progressive rock simply didn’t have to be overblown and pompous, it could be cheeky, subversive, and (dare I say it) fun. Having successfully lampooned the genre with stunning results resulting in an album which was far better than the majority who took this sort …
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 …