What does it sound like?:

There is a case to be made that Sam Cooke’s DNA is the basis of Soul Music. He sang with an unequalled style and grace. His rich, velvety tenor, powerful and smooth even in the high notes, was one of nature’s wonders. His tone was so pure and effortless, he had no need to resort to melisma or histrionics. He began singing in a Baptist choir, advanced into a Gospel group, transitioned to secular music, then added some sugar for a wider Pop audience. His songwriting was exemplary. A Change Is Gonna Come, for example, is a candidate for the song of its century.

However, he was much more than a superstar who met a sordid end. Smokey Robinson credits him with legitimising the afro. He was an active campaigner for black rights, close friend to Muhammad Ali and Malcom X. He was also business savvy, negotiating his own recording contracts with close attention to detail. Keen to avoid white “sharecroppers” in the music industry, he formed SAR Records with his friend, J.W. Alexander, and road manager, Roy Crain, to produce, promote and publish black artists.

SAR Records Story, a summation of their » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

I’ve a confession to make.

Our esteemed contributor Colin-h asked me to consider reviewing this beast about two years ago, and this is how long it’s taken me to finish off these notes. Sorry about that Colin!

So here we are at last, these are my copious notes, written a little at a time over the last two years, and finally edited now into a hopefully coherent overview of what is after all a gargantuan collection of wonderful material.

This little (13 CDs!) boxed set of BBC recordings features Ian Carr’s celebrated Nucleus ensemble. I’m not going to wade in with a humungous retrospective of the man’s jazz pedigree with various well known serious alumni, I’m going to react only to the contents of these discs.

For many music fans the music they contain might be expected to be what we might term jazz-rock. But don’t let the Vertigo label connections fool you. This is first and foremost jazz. Repertoire, with Colin’s guiding hand, have assembled 13 CDs worth of BBC sessions from the band – in various constellations – across the years from 1970 to 1991; it’s an ocean » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This new box set comprising 3 cds, a bluray, and a book looks back at the career of the sole surviving member of ELP, encompassing his work with that band alongside other outfits he has worked with such as Atomic Rooster and Asia. The first two cds are actually a slightly rejigged version of the 2001 compilation ‘Do You Wanna Play Carl’. Kicking off with the unused Works Vol 1 piece Concerto For Percussion, ultimately dropped in favour of a number of shorter pieces, the selections focus on music that Palmer feels best showcases his contributions to the band rather than necessarily their best combined work as a unit. Annoyingly, two other unreleased pieces have been dropped for this release to accommodate a section of Karn Evil 9, which seems a shame. The second cd focuses on his work in other contexts, covering a whole gamut of artists from Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster through to Mike Oldfield and the mega selling Asia years. It also touches on his work with his own band, PM, and the ELP offshoot 3, which also featured Keith Emerson but no Greg Lake, the latter being replaced by » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

In the summer of 1972, Jethro Tull decamped to France to record a follow up to the highly successful Thick As A Brick album, choosing the studio du jour, recently occupied by luminaries such as Elton and Bowie. Alas, the sessions were marred by technical and logistical issues, so the band returned to the UK with three sides of a planned double album on tape. In the cold light of day, second thoughts prevailed and Ian Anderson chose to go in a different direction and start over with a clean slate eventually producing A Passion Play, with the previously recorded music being set aside. This abandoned material gradually dripped out over the years, with the first side appearing on the 20 Years of Jethro Tull compilation in 1988, and the remainder showing up on 1993’s rarities set Nightcap. Eventually of course, the whole lot was inevitably remixed by Steven Wilson and included on the Passion Play – Extended Performance box set a few years ago. This release is simply a vinyl edition of what was on that box set, so if you already own that then there’s nothing to see here. Like last year’s » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

“Has there been a better reunion in recent times than Slowdive?”, asks my boy moselymoles in his excellent concert review. Well, one candidate might be British dub pioneers™️ Creation Rebel, who returned last year after a brief four decade hiatus with the very wonderful Hostile Environment album.

One reason why I don’t post reviews more regularly is that, whenever something tickles me enough, I always assume, probably correctly, that there are plenty of people on here who know more about the act than I do who are waiting to pounce on any slip up. Tiggs’ reviews routinely feature potted bios of that guy that filled the drum stool for one song; mine, not so much. However, as I was the only person to vote for Hostile Environment in our end of year poll, I’m going to stick my head above the parapet.

I was thinking about writing up an overdue review of that particular album when I saw that those nice people at On-U Sound are releasing a sensibly priced 6 disc box set (yes, a BOX! SET! – with a wee book! That’s got your antennae twitching!) called High Above Harlesden which » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

There are plenty of new items on the Departures Board on this, the fifteenth album from Big Big Train:

It marks the first with Italian singer, Alberto Bravin, (ex-PFM,) who replaces the much-loved David Longdon following his tragic death in late 2021.

It is the band’s first album on Inside Out, Sony’s premier prog label, (their previous recordings being self-released on English Electric.)

It is also a first in the modern history of the band in that the tracks were recorded with the musicians all playing together, in one room, with songs being changed, extended and polished as they were captured by the engineers.

It is a departure from previous BBT albums in that there are less storytelling-songs than usual. This time, with the passing of Longdon, family bereavement and individual upheaval, the songs are more personal and more introspective than before. Greg Spawton’s strap-line for the album, ‘this time it’s personal,’ rings so true as you immerse yourself into it.

Long-time fans of the band need have no concerns though. This is most definitely a Big Big Train album; and one of their very best.

I will also say that it is the » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

In February 2023 Rick Wakeman, accompanied by the English Rock Ensemble and the English Chamber Choir, performed two sold out shows at the Palladium, which are captured on this four cd set. He showcases his three most well known, and best, solo efforts, plus of course a smattering of classic Yes songs. I remember buying each of the featured solo albums, Six Wives, Journey and Myths and Legends, back in the day, all resplendent in their gatefold covers. The Six Wives is an album I was very fond of back then, and I think it still stands up today – here it’s faultlessly reproduced down to the last note. The second cd is devoted to the Myths and Legends – I was disappointed with this one on release, and I still find it rather underwhelming to this day. To be fair, this version has more energy than the studio one, but the music doesn’t quite live up to what was on paper a great idea for a concept album. Next up comes the reworkings of some Yes classics. We get the usual suspects – Roundabout, And You and I and Starship Trooper – all » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Like an alternative soundtrack to the first season of True Detective – as though someone has reimagined the work of David Lynch, Nancy Sinatra, Lana Del Rey, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Ry Cooder and Aldous Harding — but also inscrutable and arch, theatrical and very, very cinematic.

I’m slightly addicted at the moment. She’s one of those artists who creates her own world and I can’t stay away. I listened to the much-hyped Last Dinner Party album and it just seemed like Vera-lite to me (although that could be a symptom of my affliction).

What does it all *mean*?

It seems almost a shame to mention that she’s Dan Ackroyd’s daughter. But there you have it.

Goes well with…

Splitting for Jackson.

Release Date:

Out now

Might suit people who like…

Those artists mentioned above.

What does it sound like?:

More a word of warning than a review. Released on CD for the first time, this is a recording of a radio broadcast of a live performance of TB from very shortly after its release and I was interested primarily due to the musicians involved (see below) and, of course because I love this album.

• Mike Oldfield – Lowery Organ, Bass, Acoustic and Electric Guitar and Mandolin. • David Bedford – Grand Piano, Accordian, Organ, Choir Master, String Arrangement. • John Greaves – Farfisa Organ, Electric Piano, Tin Whistle • Fred Frith – Electric and Bass Guitars • Tim Hodginson – Organ, Electric Piano, Fender Rhodes • Mick Taylor – Electric Guitar • Steve Hillage – Electric Guitar • Pierre Moerlen – Glockenspiel, Timpani, Tubular Bells, Gongs, Cymbals, Tam Tam • Steve Broughton – Drums • Ted Speight – Electric Guitar • Kevin Ayers – Bass • (and others that I am rudely missing off the list)

If it sounds like there’s a “but” coming, it’s because there is. I did buy this but I might not have done if I’d read the Amazon reviews – the “digitally remastered” recording is not great » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

If the Who had recorded this, we’d all be saying it was the best thing they’d done since ‘Who’s Next’ (1971). We’d be saying ‘It’s a masterpiece!’ – and it is, but it’s Kirk Brandon’s masterpiece, and as both the singer and writer in Spear of Destiny, he manages to be Daltry and Townshend in one person, albeit Adrian Portas does the (concise) guitar hero stuff when it’s required.

Stretching the metaphor, fishing in a neighbouring lake, Kirk manages to compress the whole essence of ‘Quadrophenia’ into one song, opening number ‘Brighton’. Beginning with a woozy snatch of post-war end-of-the-pier kingpin Max Miller doing his thing and ending with vintage seaside verité, what happens in between is colossal, portentous, epic – scattershot reportage and impressionism of mods and rockers, gangsters and chancers back in the day. Very little rhymes but it doesn’t need to – and the town’s name gets stretched to a barnstorming howl of (literally) 20 syllables. These are recurring, distinguishing traits in Brandon’s songwriting – having the chutzpah to be liberated from Moon/June shackles to say what he wants to say in amazingly direct, real language and compensating for those conventional » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

The seventh and final album by Family is reissued as a 2cd remastered set with an illustrated booklet featuring a new essay on it’s making. Tony Ashton and Jim Cregan joined the band but rather than revitalising the group they produced one of their least essential albums. This is leagues away from the heights of Bandstand and Music From A Doll’s House. The songs are pretty run of the mill and uninspired and it’s hard to pick a stand out track really. In fact it’s a set where the extras are better than the original album. There’s a generous 19 tracks added, five being studio cuts and the remainder coming from BBC sessions from a 1973 In Concert and a Top Gear appearance from later in the same year. The jaded sound of a band reaching the end of the road really, with their heyday behind them.

What does it all *mean*?

It was no surprise when the band split not long after the album’s release as they sound rather uninspired and unsure of what direction to take.

Goes well with…

Popcorn and Kia Ora.

Release Date:

26 Jan

Might suit people » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Maggie Rogers is a successful performance artist with a major label record contract, who headlines tours and plays festivals. It may be that many Afterworders already know her if not her music, but apart from one clip from KFD on Bingo’s ‘Music Makes Life Better’ thread in 2022, and a few comments from me in Blogger Takes Over threads last year, she doesn’t have any presence on this site. That’s OK – there is a lot of music out there, she is possibly in the Dido camp of being popular with mainstream audiences with limited AW appeal.

That’s understandable – although from a folky background, she undeniably is pop. I hadn’t heard of her at all until I watched a recording of her Glastonbury ’23 performance. In a turquoise dress with strawberry blonde crop, she was clearly having the time of her life, connecting with the audience, getting lost in dancing to the band and singing so joyfully songs I had never heard before.

There was something in that vibrant zest for life that was completely captivating and infectious. So I started to dig into her discography:

Two albums released independently during her » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Ah, the dilemma of presenting new soul* to the Afterword: if it’s too adventurous or too zeitgeisty then you’re all “Take that away Mack, it’s wick-wick-wack”; If it’s too wholemeal ale traditional, then it’s “Yawn, we’ve heard it all done better before”.

This, Danielle Ponder’s debut, had a lengthy gestation while she adjusted to turning professional having spent several years gaining a reputation as a singer while working full time as a public defender and advocate in the courts of Rochester, New York. It’s true, the arrangements do occasionally betray the fact that trip hop has been around for thirty years and some of the songs meander a little, but there’s not much here that’s going to frighten the horses and Danielle is not from the seven-notes-per-syllable singing school.

Instead, Some Of Us Are Brave (the title comes from a black women’s studies book All The Women Are White, All The Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave) is a collection of slow songs which are both musically and thematically from the familiar tradition of the emotional trials (SWIDT?) of the soulstress, mostly co-written with her keyboard player Avis Reese (her touring band » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

There’s a school of thought that Dave McLarnon is underrated – a modest, soft-spoken yet quietly Tiggerish man in a raffish beard (and very often a hat) who was musically intoxicated as a teenager and who has never lost that excitement for it, working within and eventually leading a series of Belfast bands from the mid-70s to the present. Let me be the first in the queue to say that the time is most definitely now for a resetting of the Dave McLarnon appreciation dial – and that this sensational new album by his 1979–82 band of Ulster punk ‘nearly men’ is all the evidence we need.

First, some history… Dave began his musical adventures with a school band in the 70s, Sunset – and their revival in recent years has been entirely down to his own effervescent ringmastering role. Sunset gig two or three times a year and rehearse the odd time in between (often with me sitting in on bass – if Brendan Ten-Bands or Petesy Burns aren’t available) at the sumptuous premises of drummer Chris Loughridge AKA Johnny Dental. They are a fascinating amalgam of almost Dickensian characters bedevilled by » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This isn’t really a review as such. I’ve just been listening to this album again today for the first time in a few years and forgot just how good it was, so I wanted to rave about it a bit and recommend it to anyone who hasn’t heard it.

Describing it is very very easy, and it’s the kind of record you know within about 2 minutes whether you’re going to like it or not – you could pretty much pick any track and just drop in there and see what you think. Basically, it’s like a mid-90s update of that Pet Sounds/ Smile Beach Boys sound (chamber pop with lush instrumentation), with a few electronic bells, whistles and Moogs blended in.

That makes it sound like a pastiche, but it’s adept enough to rise above that. I know next to nothing of the band, and this record passed me by when it first came out in 1996, but I understand they were kind of grouped somewhere between the trends for retro pop and easy listening, kind of Air meets Mike Flowers Pops.

What does it all *mean*?

It’s just a beautiful album. I » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

George Drakoulias is responsible for much of The Black Crowes’ sound and their early success. He signed The Black Crowes to a new, Rock orientated label, Rick Rubin’s Def American Recordings, and produced their breakthrough albums. Hearing a texture of Rod Stewart in Chris Robinson’s voice, he introduced the band to the music of The Faces and Humble Pie and persuaded them to cover Rolling Stones’ songs. Their debut was released in 1990 just as Grunge galvanised the Rock market and sold five million copies in the USA within two years. The pressure was on for a follow up. The core band of Chris Robinson, vocals, brother Rich, guitar, Johnny Colt, bass, and Steve Gorman, drums, was supplement by two new members, Marc Ford, guitar, and Eddie Harsch, plus female backing singers, Barbara Mitchell and Taj Harmon. The album was recorded in eight days.

The sepia toned cover art, echoing The Band, promises a return to roots rock. The title reminds us that The Black Crowes are originally from Georgia. The Southern Harmony is an annotated hymn book, compiled by William Walker in 1835, that was often the only exposure people had to written » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Vagabonds of the Western World was my first Thin Lizzy album, thanks to my elder brother.

Kev had been tipped off by our Irish cousin, Paul, that this fantastic band were on their third album and that he’d been to see them in Belfast and how good they were. Then, in November 1972, Whiskey in the Jar began to get played on the radio and Kev bought ‘Vagabonds’ a few months later and played it to death in our shared bedroom. So, from the age of sixteen, I knew this album and then its predecessor, Shades of a Blue Orphanage.

Decca Records have put together a fantastic package to celebrate the album’s 50th birthday, a package which includes; The original album; an album of radio sessions from the time; an album of live, rarities, demos and out-takes plus a blu-ray of a Dolby Atmos 5.1 mix and stereo mixes of the album and some bonus ‘Atmos-only’ mixes.

The album still sounds great, fifty years on. From the opening slide guitar of Mama Nature Said to the orchestral fade out of A Song For While I’m Away, it is a terrific album which showcases » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Adams releases have been consistent if not prolific across 43 years – 18 studio, 6 live and 2 soundtrack albums plus no less than 75 singles, along with a prodigious amounts of touring (2 years on “Reckless” alone). My own relationship with his music has been somewhat binary – “Reckless” is one of 3 cds I purchased the day as I bought a cd player, and one I still play (stream) to this day. Rockers like “Long Gone” and “The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You” have appeared on almost every playlist I’ve ever made. In contrast “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” is one of only two songs (the other being “Love Is All Around) I had to insist were not played at my wedding, it’s simpering tweeness just too much to bear.

Always the down to earth blue collar guy, his music was more muscular than Johnny Cougar, less bouffant than Bon Jovi, and more accessible / radio friendly than Springsteen. Adams found a formula quite early on of making albums that mixed catchy rockers with lovelorn ballads with the multiple singles culled from each cross promoting » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Here we have yet another comprehensive boxset, this time of ‘The MCA and Decca Years 73-84’ in Camel’s back catalogue. For the vast majority of those with an interest, this will safely encompass the period when the band caught their attention. That certainly includes me. I can’t comment on the ‘lavish illustrated book with essays and a poster’, let alone the 5 BluRay CDs that weren’t available to review, but that still leaves a whopping 27 discs in which to wallow.

This is made up of 10 discs of the original studio albums, from their eponymous debut through to Stationary Traveller. Straight away, I am wondering who this is for. Anyone with the inclination to shell out £177 for a boxset, is going to be in deep with the band, and is likely to have several of these albums already, so offering the dedicated fan to own duplicate copies without a hint (yet) of a remaster seems odd.

There’s a few demos, single versions and bonus tracks, each tacked onto the contemporary studio albums, which makes sense, as there’s precious few of them, so those extras would barely have made up a CD of their » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Peter Gabriel is an intelligent man who retains his curiosity about the world and how we all fit in it together. He remains passionate about nature and climate change, global inequalities, mortality, personal relationships and the redemption to be found in love. He enjoys cutting-edge technology, takes as much care of the visuals as the sound, is drawn to the tones and rhythms of non-Western music and is fascinated by psychotherapy and the possibility of a profound, emotional performance resulting in a kind of catharsis.

He began recording I/O more than twenty years ago, with the intention of following 2002’s Up by 2004. At one point, he had 150 songs on the go. He got waylaid by Womad projects, films, a covers album, string versions of old songs, soundtracks, tours and family illness. As he points out in one of the songs, time slipped in the mirror. To be fair, he only properly settled in a studio with a band in Autumn 2021 to work on 23 songs, then whittled down to twelve. You will have heard them all already. Each track has been released digitally on a full moon, and an alternative » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

One of the great things about music is when you unexpectedly discover an album that completely takes you by surprise. 1988 is one of this records. It bushwhacked me. While I expected to like it, what I have found is that it goes well beyond liking. It has overwhelmed me and I love it madly.

It’s clearly an album that has passed most music magazines by, because it’s not in their top albums of the year, though I think it should be.

McKenna’s name is probably unknown to many readers here. I was aware of her for years because she is an artist who regularly popped up on Bob Harris’s radio programmes. She had never made too much of an impression on me. Back in 2016 she released an album titled The Bird And The Rifle. My wife was taken by something from it that Bob played and she bought the CD. Since then she’s got Lori’s albums as they have been released.

I then realised that maybe Bob had a point and she was worth listening to. I liked TBATR a lot as well as her last two albums; The Tree which came » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

Leaving the attention-grabbing headline behind – this is of course not about the record industry’s latest installment of the annual Xmas favourite, the »orchestral« hits album. They used to wait with such endeavours until the artist’s corpse was buried, but times are hard, obviously.

So: those crazy people at Bear Family have dedicated the latest volume in their »The Brits Are Rocking« series to Sir Cliff Richard, ignoring the image most people seem to have of him being a target of mockery and sniggering, especially among the elderly »rockers« in their extra-large black T-shirts. »Dynamite – The Brits Are Rocking Vol. 10« is a compilation of 34 uptempo tracks from 1959 to December 1961 – and it’s exciting, illuminating and a pure pleasure to listen to.

There’s the myth of the »grey area«, the time when Elvis was in the Army and apparently nothing much was going on in the music world until the sudden arrival of the Beatles. Well, here we have a guitar band with a focused singer, a brillant guitar player and an endlessly inventive rhythm section, who play snappy, energetic pop songs, mostly written by band members and associates. The » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

This cd plus bluray set presents the original AHM album on the cd, but it’s the bluray disc that is the most interesting and is the focal point of this release. A lower grade copy of this film of the band performing the AHM suite at a Japanese festival in August of 1971, their first ever show in the country, was featured on the Early Years box set a few years ago. This footage has now been upgraded to give far better clarity thanks to a new copy of the film being found, although sadly there’s still no footage available of the remainder of the set, those five songs seeming to be lost for good. It’s a good solid performance of the piece, more notable for being of historical interest for hardcore fans than for offering anything radically new or unexpected. The package also includes a short behind the scenes documentary, an informative sixty page booklet and replicas of the original poster and ticket, along with various other bits of reproduced memorabilia. If you don’t have the film then this is the chance to get hold of it without forking out for the full » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

1974’s Warchild was never in my top five Tull albums, although it does certainly have some good songs – I felt it was rather an inconsistent set overall though, one that didn’t fully realise its potential or live up to expectations. Ian Anderson has decided to create an alternative version of the record, or perhaps it’s a sequel, appearing on vinyl only. This uses the associated recordings from the sessions that didn’t make the final cut, which have been newly sequenced by the man himself. Some of these dribbled out in subsequent years on various compilations, and the whole lot appeared on the fortieth anniversary box set reissue in 2014, remixed by the venerable Steven Wilson of course. So to be clear there’s nothing previously unreleased here, and this release seems to be a way of making these songs available on vinyl for the first time for the completists who collect such things. The songs themselves, which fans will already be familiar with, are fine overall, and in fact some of them would have been better suited to the original album that those finally selected for inclusion. Much delayed – it was originally slated » Continue Reading.

What does it sound like?:

It was the first time

March 20 1978 was the first time I saw Bob Dylan. I had just turned 21. As you can imagine the anticipation was palpable. He played 3 nights at Melbourne’s mainly outdoor venue the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. I saw the first night which rained heavily and the second night. I am in a chat group of Dylan fanatics and none of us recall being aware of the format these shows would take and the dramatic reworkings of songs. Dylan had played 16 shows before us including Auckland, Brisbane and Adelaide but, at most, the awareness was of a much bigger band.

To stand there listening to him play one of his lyrically most potent songs Hard rain as an instrumental, in a white jump suit, was extremely disorienting. The last thing I had heard or seen was the punky bandanas and face paint of the 76 Rolling Thunder tour. I tried to like it, I wanted to like it but really, I was underwhelmed. And in early 78, jump suits and flutes were a hard sell.

Budokan, the original album was intended for the Japan market only » Continue Reading.