What does it sound like?:

After more than forty years in the music business and fifteen studio albums, plus two as a solo artist, how does a songwriter like Mike Scott keep the creative juices flowing? Your heart might sink a little when you learn he has gone for a concept album, a chronological song cycle based on the life and times of Dennis Hopper, especially if you’ve heard the rather bland track, Dennis Hopper, from 2020’s Good Luck, Seeker. However, there is hope in that Scott has always been a decent story teller with an ear for a catchy tune, chooses his collaborators wisely and the life he describes here was certainly eventful. His mastery of a range of musical genres means he can capture the flavour of the psychedelic sixties, the cynical, narcotic seventies and the chaotic, narcissistic eighties, and throw in curveball ventures into thrash, lounge jazz, country, Hollywood strings and collage to capture the milestones in Hopper’s story. After all, The Waterboys have been through various phases themselves: “Big Music”, folk, “raggle taggle”, rock, Celtic, soul, blues, hip-hop, electronica, dance and funk. A Scott biography of Hopper is a tantalising prospect.

Dennis Hopper’s first films » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

By 1975, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen retired from touring, kicked off their shoes, ensconced themselves in their studio and amused themselves putting crack session musicians through their paces recording their weird and peculiar songs. They’d had three Billboard top ten singles, still getting radio plays, and three well-received albums that sold well. The first, Can’t Buy A Thrill, sounded like a various artists showcase for their songwriting, with multiple lead vocalists and a bewildering range of musical styles, from Bossa Nova through Rock and Pop to Jazz and show tunes. Countdown To Ecstasy featured a tight band that really cooked with spectacular twin guitars. Pretzel Logic was polished and slick and damn near peerless.

They reinvented the notion of Rock band as a faceless entity, one without any kind of frontman. For many, the only photo of the band was in hazy black and white on the back of Countdown To Ecstasy, and that charisma-free collection of hairy herberts tells you everything. Their songs demanded an arms-length semi-detachment. They were criticised for emotional sterility but if your subject matter includes ruthless corporate greed, alienation, a sordid affair, a missing drunken father, a » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

In Richard Ashcroft’s mind, he performed stratospheric anthems to enraptured stadiums, lighters aloft, even when playing to three figure audiences in a town hall. You can’t fault his ambition, his self belief and his ego. For a brief period of time, with the release of Urban Hymns in 1997, his vision was realised. The Verve’s third album replaced Oasis’s third at number one in the UK and threatened to supplant them altogether. The comparisons were uncanny. Both bands were from greater Manchester, the friction between singer and guitarist was often unbearable, and the songs churned away at the same steady beat. In September, The Verve were the support for Oasis at Earl’s Court, but the success of Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don’t Work made it into a battle of the bands event that many thought The Verve won. For the first two albums, Nick McCabe’s guitar was relied upon to light up the music. But, he left in a huff and the replacement, a much easier going gentleman called Simon Tong, was handy for keyboards as well. McCabe returned to help record Urban Hymns, by which time Ashcroft had discovered it was much » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Three years ago, when Madfish issued American Dreamer, an 8 LP box of her first seven studio albums plus an extra platter of bonus material, Laura Nyro fans cried, “What about CD?” Now, Madfish have gone all in with this gargantuan 19 CD limited edition box set: 10 remastered original studio albums, each with their own disc, 6 live albums including 2 previously unreleased live concerts, Laura’s original demo tape from 1966 and a bonus disc of rarities including mono versions, alternative takes and live tracks, plus a 90-page coffee-table book with liner notes by Vivien Goldman and a foreword from mega-fan Elton John. They won’t be crying now, except maybe over the expense.

Laura Nyro began her career as a quiet, introspective teenager with prodigious talent, recording her first album at 19 years old. Her songs seem to be wrung from her very being, burning with an intensity that belies her years. They stand out for her unconventional use of meter and rhythm, and dramatic emotional range. Her lyrics are routinely referred to as “poetic” because they are both beautiful and elusive. If you allow her to, she will scorch your soul and » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Living In The Material World is a lovely, lovely LP that defined the George Harrison sound for the rest of his career. From conception to execution, it is quintessential George, capturing his struggles to reconcile his deeply held faith with the trappings of an ex-Beatle. All the guitars are played by him: acoustic, Leslie’d electric rhythm and lead, plus his signature slide. He also plays sitar. His singing is the best of his career. He doesn’t have the natural vocal talent of his ex bandmates but he can hit a wide variety of notes with accuracy and, more importantly, he expresses himself with genuine feeling. A choir is deployed sparingly but he sings the rest of the backing vocals, too. In addition, he is the sole producer. Phil Spector gets a credit for the backing track for Try Some, Buy Some, recorded during an aborted Ronnie Spector project, but, otherwise, George is decisively in charge.

Perhaps as a reaction to the extremes of All Things Must Pass, on which there were at least twenty-four musicians, he gathered together a trusted few. Nicky Hopkins and Gary Wright play keyboards, Klaus Voorman bass, and Jim Keltner » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

No-one thumps a drumkit as robustly as Chris Frantz. The highlight of this 3 CD + 1 Blu-Ray is a live recording at CBGBs on 10th October 1977. It sounds fantastic and features Frantz walloping away with gusto, the missing link between the weedy production of the debut album and the power unleashed on More Songs About Buildings And Food. His battering introduction to the opening song, Love -> Building On Fire, is both deafening and gasp-inducing. Martina Weymouth, as she is credited on Talking Heads 77, a keen student of Bootsy Collins’s basslines for James Brown, sounds equally beefy, providing the core strength of Take Me To The River, already fully constructed well before Brian Eno added his adjustments. Thank You For Sending Me Angel is present and fully formed, but Stay Hungry is yet to lose a few extra parts. The boys on guitars, +/- keyboards, are wonderful, too. David Byrne’s vocals are as quirky and dynamic as they ever were. It’s great to hear his introductions, always the same for every song; “This name of this song is…” Disc Three is a familiar experience for those of us lucky enough to » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Keith Jarrett was a singular talent. A child prodigy, he began piano lessons at the age of three. Early on, his first experiment with composing was to add a note to a Mozart piece. He played the original to his teacher and his own version to himself at home. From the very beginning, he combined the classicist’s ambidextrous ability to wring every emotion from little squiggles on a page with the jazz musician’s ear for improvisation and adventure. His talent was so huge, his taste so mercurial and his personality so prickly, he struggled to fit into groups with other musicians. It’s no coincidence that it was his solo pieces made him famous, my favourite being Bremen/Lausanne rather than the big seller, Köln. Charles Lloyd, a saxophonist leaning towards Coltrane experimentation, accommodated him early in his career by giving him plenty of space to extemporise. He served a stint in Miles Davis’s electric band of the early seventies, where he worked alongside Jack DeJohnette, a powerhouse of a drummer who found a way to provoke and cajole Jarrett on to greater heights. The pair combined with Gary Peacock, a patient and melodic bass player, » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Rave music of the late eighties/early nineties was designed for immediate consumption. Its purpose to enhance the moment a sea of bodies moves as one as they glimpse heaven in a collective trance. It’s best experienced in a field or a warehouse with hundreds of others. There is a science behind it. A maximal beats per minute, combined with a certain harmonic amplitude and a rhythmic peak and drop, added to the social setting and various substances, creates delta waves in the brain normally associated with deep relaxation and a loss of sense of self. In other words, rave music blows the mind. The Hartnell brothers looked like boffins with matching bald heads. They named themselves after the M25. People used to drive round it waiting for the message with the venue of that night’s event. Social media was in its infancy and it was the era of the CD. The extra space, compared to vinyl, meant the recorded music could stretch out, building relentlessly, increasing the tension up to the dramatic drop and blissful release. John Major’s government was highly suspicious of an outsider culture that involved youngsters enjoying themselves, taking drugs and » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

What is the point of a Best Of collection in the era of streaming? Modern day megastars don’t bother with them any more. Just selecting two at random; Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have never released one. Instead, they have playlists on streaming sites or video collections. T.Rex, however, are a band of the seventies, when vinyl, TV and radio were the only ways to hear records and Best Ofs were a great way of collecting all the singles relatively cheaply. It’s no surprise that they are wedded to the concept, releasing no less than 28 compilations, all but four after Marc Bolan’s death. The last one was Gold in 2018, consisting of 45 tracks, most of which overlap with the 36 presented on this brand new, “definitive” collection. You can still buy a 3CD physical copy for less than a tenner. You can also stream all but two of its tracks, neither of which feature on Bolan Boogie.

This physical product is two discs, CD or vinyl, in “deluxe” gatefold packaging. You really can’t fail when Bolan’s pretty face fills the front sleeve. The music covers the whole period of T.Rex’s career and includes » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

By 1986, many Costello fans were confused. Where was the spittle-flecked, forehead-beaded ball of fury of This Year’s Model and Armed Forces? On Kings Of America, he is gazing cautiously through new facial hair and wire spectacles, with a crown on his head. His name has changed to The Costello Show or The Little Hands of Concrete when he plays guitar. The songs are credited to Declan MacManus but Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus co-produced, the Aloysius appearing from nowhere. The Attractions, who had done so much to sharpen his music into a frenzy, are restricted to one song out of fifteen tracks on an album just shy of an hour long. A casual observer might think Costello was suffering an existential crisis. He was concluding a divorce, had fallen out with his band, was in a chaotic relationship with Cait O’Riordan, and had ‘retired’ after his previous album flopped. Musically, the enfant terrible of New Wave was unrecognisable, even so soon after a detour into Country Music, a shot at Pure Pop and an ill-judged effort at over production as art. Many of his post Punk fans may not have been able to name » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This is a fabulous live album, smooth and slick, everything you could hope for from Tears For Fears. It was recorded during the Tipping Point tour, promoting their excellent studio album released in 2022, eloquently reviewed on the Afterword by Dave Ross. They sound as young as they did over forty years ago, the baritone textures and tones of their vocals completely unchanged. They have upgraded their synthesisers, they can afford a real Fender Rhodes these days, but, nevertheless, the musicianship is flawless. Props to the band: Doug Petty keyboards, Charlton Pettus guitar, Jamie Wollam drums, Lauren Evans, Janae Sims and Jasmine Mullen vocals, plus of course Roland Orzabal guitar and Curt Smith bass. The sound is magnificent. They were never particularly prolific. In the eighties they released just three albums, split up for the nineties and managed only two this century, but, gradually, they have acquired a substantial catalogue of song choices. Tipping Point is a late career album of high quality, the equal of their early fresh-faced peak, and it provides almost a third of the set. They are so confident in it, one of their biggest songs, Everybody Wants To Rule » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

CSNY were drawn together by the ethereal beauty of their harmonies. They were also born out of conflict. David Crosby had fallen out from The Byrds partly because he sat in for Neil Young, at the request of Stephen Stills, after Young had quit Buffalo Springfield. Graham Nash’s exit from The Hollies was less of a gordian knot of turmoil but the strands that held CSNY together were gossamer thin. Nevertheless, CSN was a successful debut album released in May 1969. Stills had carried most of the musical load but needed help in order to tour. Young was recruited as a full band member and was allowed to continue pursuing his solo career with Crazy Horse. Dallas Taylor and Greg Reeves were brought in as the touring rhythm section.

Their first gig was on 16th August, opened by Joni Mitchell, at The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago. Their second, on the 18th August 1969, was at Woodstock, catapulting the new lineup into the spotlight. Footage from two performances at the Big Sur Folk Festival on September 13–14, 1969 appears in the movie Celebration at Big Sur. Their first tour also included a performance at the notorious Altamont Free Concert on December » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

The Animals’ debut LP followed The Beatles by a year and a half, The Hollies and The Rolling Stones by six months, coincided within a week of The Kinks and preceded The Yardbirds by a couple of months and The Who by a full year. All seven bands were heavily influenced by American Rhythm & Blues and Tamla Motown. Without exception, these bands covered Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, at least in spirit, and their debut albums were full of covers. Eleven of the twelve tracks on the UK version of The Animals are covers and the remaining one, the opener, co-credits Bo Diddley, a song that acknowledges their debt to the Diddley beat and their third place in the UK pecking order by quoting A Hard Days Night and I Wanna Be Your Man.

The Animals, the LP, tends towards the gritty, bluesy end of the R&B spectrum, featuring three John Lee Hooker songs, two Fats Domino and two Chuck Berry, but any or all of them could have appeared on the first two Stones LPs. The Animals’ two main advantages were Eric Burden’s powerful rasp and Alan Price’s distinctive riffs on his » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This latest instalment of Joni Mitchell’s beautifully curated Archives series covers her “jazz” period when she made Hejira, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, Mingus and the live album Shadows And Light. As usual, there is a beautifully illustrated book, an explanatory interview with Cameron Crowe and individual covers for each jewel case. None of the music appears on the released albums and is presented in chronological order.

Joni Mitchell, alone, in front of a microphone, spinning her eloquent yarns, her fingers spellbinding the guitar strings around her vocals, sounds so at ease, so natural. The words and melodies emerge fully formed, poetic, personal and profound, and the flow of the guitar lines are constantly questing, yearning, moving forward. It appears that all she had to do, in a studio or on a stage, was to stand up and open her mouth. Joni’s Archives box sets demonstrate time and time again, that thought, word and music were aligned from the very beginning. This Volume of six CDs is seven hours long. You may think you are being short changed by five of them being live, especially when you consider that she did not tour for three » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

When Steve Marriott left Small Faces in 1969 to form Humble Pie, the remainder of the band, Ian McLagan keys, Ronnie Lane bass and Kenney Jones drums, recruited Rod Stewart vocals and Ronnie Wood guitar from The Jeff Beck Group, and shortened their name to Faces. They had an unusual contractual arrangement to tiptoe around. Faces were signed to Warner Brothers and Stewart, as a solo artist, to Mercury. Lines were blurred by Faces musicians regularly appearing on Rod Stewart records. It certainly kept them all busy. Faces released four albums during the period covered by this box, First Step, Long Player, A Nod’s As Good As A Wink… To A Blind Horse and Ooh La La and Stewart four, An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells A Story and Never A Dull Moment, plus, most of Smiler was recorded. They had a lot of material to tap into when they played live. Fortunately, they toured constantly.

A Faces gig was a boozy night out with your mates, rumbustious, teetering on the edge of chaos. Unlike many Rock bands of the time, they were unafraid to embrace fun. » Continue Reading.